The head of the mercenary group leading Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine said on Friday that his forces will withdraw from the high-profile battle for Bakhmut next week due to a lack of military support.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s sudden announcement marked the latest dramatic escalation in his dispute with Moscow’s military leadership. He followed up a furious tirade in a graphic video Prigozhin posted on Telegram late Thursday, in which he appeared to be surrounded by dead bodies as he blamed defense chiefs for heavy losses suffered by his Wagner Group fighters.
Hours after his expletive-laden tirade, Prigozhin said he would hand over control of the grueling Bakhmut offensive to Russian army forces on May 10 due to shortages of ammunition supplies.
«I am pulling Wagner’s units out of Bakhmut because, in the absence of ammunition, they are doomed to perish senselessly,» he said, adding that his forces would «lick our wounds.»
It was unclear whether Prigozhin’s statement was a serious statement of intent, given his history of sarcasm and backlash, but it seemed to represent a new stage in an internal battle that threatened to undermine the Kremlin’s hopes of progress in the field of warfare. battle.
The Kremlin said it had seen his announcement but could not comment.
Wagner’s fighters have led the Russian assault on Bakhmut, a months-long campaign that has become the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. The city has acquired a symbolic value that may outweigh its strategic importance, although Prigozhin has long accused Russian military leaders of ignoring his requests for more ammunition and other means of support.
On Thursday night, he posted a video on Telegram that apparently showed him standing over the dead bodies of Wagner fighters, angrily asking Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a profanity-laden tirade: «Where are the shells?» .
“These are Wagner guys who died today. The blood is still fresh,” Prigozhin said, pointing to the corpses around him. “They came here as volunteers and they are dying so you can get fat in your offices.”
The United States estimates that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since December, half of Wagner’s. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing this week that Wagner’s fighters had gone into combat without «sufficient combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control.»
Bakhmut is still under Ukrainian control despite months of artillery devastation and street fighting with a Wagner force made up of large groups of ex-cons recruited from prison to serve on the front lines.
«Bakhmut hold on» remains a rallying cry among Ukrainian soldiers in the theater of war.
The Russian offensive has left civilians remaining in eastern Ukraine fearing for their lives in shelters, but Moscow’s forces are far from establishing full control over Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern regions that comprise the vast industrial heartland. from Donbas.
A Ukrainian counter-offensive is believed to be imminent, and kyiv hopes to lead Russian forces on the defensive after holding them back and wearing them down at Bakhmut over the winter.