Russia’s Wagner chief “pulls out a group of mercenaries from Bakhmut” due to a dispute over weapons with Vladimir Putin

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The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has said he will withdraw his forces from the eastern city of Bakhmut over a dispute over support for Vladimir Putin’s government.

The group founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin – an ally of Putin – has been leading Russia’s bid to capture Bakhmut since last summer, in Ukraine’s longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

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“I announce on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that we are obliged on May 10 to transfer the positions in the Bakhmut settlement to the units of the Ministry of Defense and drag the remains of Wagner to logistical camps to lick our wounds,” Prigozhin said in a statement.

“I am withdrawing Wagner units from Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they are doomed senseless.”

Given that Mr. Prigozhin gave advance notice of the withdrawal, the threat may end up being an act of brinkmanship to force Moscow into action, as he has frequently posted impulsive comments in the past. And just last week, he withdrew a statement he said he made as a “joke”.

The withdrawal was announced in a statement addressed to the Chief of the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense and President Putin as Commander-in-Chief.

It was accompanied by a video of Mr. Prigozhin appearing in full combat gear in front of dozens of his fighters, with an automatic rifle slung from his shoulder.

“Due to a shortage of ammunition, our losses are increasing exponentially every day,” the statement said. “My team will not suffer useless and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition,” Prigozhin added in the video.

“If you, out of your petty jealousy, do not want to give the Russian people the victory in the capture of Bakhmut, then this is your problem,” he said.

The statement and the video followed another expletive-laden video posted early Friday in which Prigozhin, surrounded by dozens of corpses he said were Wagner fighters, shouted and cursed at Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces. Russian. Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov. He said they were responsible for Wagner’s losses because they had deprived it of ammunition.

“We are 70 percent short of ammunition. Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where’s the ******’s ammunition?” he shouted into the camera.

Prigozhin exclaimed, before saying that Wagner’s losses would be five times less if adequately provisioned, that those responsible would go to hell.

“These are the Wagner boys who died today. The blood is still pure,” Prigozhin said, pointing to the bodies around him. “They came here as volunteers and they die so you can get fat in your offices.”

Moscow-Pakhmut is a stepping stone to other major cities in the Donetsk region. Control of the region known as Donbass, Ukraine’s industrial heartland that includes neighboring Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is a major goal of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The months-long fierce battle for Bakhmut assumed great political importance for both Moscow and Kiev, with neither side wanting to be seen to lose it.

For President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian military, the city has become a symbol of the country’s resistance against the onslaught of the Russian winter. Military leaders in Moscow and the Kremlin will be desperate for a battlefield victory on the horn given how little progress his country’s efforts for more territory in Ukraine have made.

Prigozhin publicly began feuding with defense chiefs last year, accusing them of incompetence, and of deliberately depriving Wagner of ammunition out of personal hostility toward him as an ally of Putin. In recent weeks he has been claiming additional gains for his forces around Bakhmut, with Ukrainian army commanders saying the situation on the ground was “difficult” for Ukrainian forces. But Wagner’s chief’s remarks slowly turned into complaints of a lack of support.

Ukraine’s Western allies have warned for months that they believe Russia could run short of weapons and ammunition and defense officials in Moscow recently asked the companies to ramp up production.

On Wednesday, Prigozhin said he believes the long-awaited counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces has already begun and that his forces are watching increased activity along the front.

Kiev said it was making final preparations for the offensive, but did not say when it was expected to begin in earnest, with Zelensky saying it would be “soon”.

“I think the advance of the Ukrainian army has already begun,” Prigozhin said. “We are witnessing the greatest possible activity both in the periphery and inside the front lines.” “So I think it’s all starting already. And I think it’s all going to enter an active phase in the very near future. It could take days.”

There is no doubt that Wagner’s forces account for a large part of the losses that Russia has suffered in recent months. The White House said on Monday that US intelligence estimates more than 100,000 Russian fighters have been killed or wounded since December alone. NSC spokesman John Kirby said half of those killed were Wagner mercenaries, most of whom were “thrown into combat” at Bakhmut, and lacked “adequate combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control.”

Reuters contributed to this report

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