Russia's war in Ukraine
Wagner founder and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks saying Kyiv still needs “a bit more time” before it launches a much anticipated counteroffensive.
“Zelensky is lying,” Prigozhin said on his official social media channels on Thursday. “The counteroffensive is in full swing.”
“In the Artemovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) direction, AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) units are entering the flanks. And, unfortunately, in some places they are successful,” he added.
Prigozhin’s remarks came after Zelensky said in an interview on Thursday his country needed “a bit more time” to allow additional Western supplies to arrive, before they could launch the counteroffensive. The Wagner founder went on to claim Ukrainian forces first had to resolve the situation in and around Bakhmut before trying to advance in other areas.
“That is why the offensive of the AFU has begun. Those units that have been trained, received the necessary weapons, equipment, tanks, everything else, they are already fully engaged,” he said, repeating his complaints against the Russian Ministry of Defense over the lack of ammunition supplies.
“Wagner continues to carry out combat missions in a terrible shortage of ammunition and shell hunger, because the promises made by the Ministry of Defense are not kept.”
What Ukraine is saying: Ukrainian military officials have previously said the counterattacks around Bakhmut mentioned by Prigozhin are part of a “positional struggle” and not necessarily related to a larger counteroffensive effort.
“Sometimes the enemy has some success after a powerful artillery strike and the destruction of infrastructure, and they can move forward," the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevaty said on May 1, explaining the frontline was constantly shifting. "But we counterattack and often win back our positions after inflicting fire on the enemy.”
Source: CNN
