Credit, Concord Press Service
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Yevgeny Prigozhin is a personal friend of Putin
Item Information
- Author, Paul Kirby
- Rolle, from BBC News
May 5, 2023
The leader of the Wagner group, a group of Russian mercenaries operating in the war in Ukraine, says his soldiers will withdraw from the town of Bakhmut next Wednesday (May 10) due to a lack of ammunition.
The leader of the mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, recently posted a video of himself walking among the bodies of his dead subordinates, blaming the Russian authorities for the deaths. “Tens of thousands” of his soldiers were killed or wounded, he said.
Russia has been attempting to capture the city for months although its strategic value is in question using Wagner Group soldiers on the offensive.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier this week that more than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 80,000 injured in the Ukraine war since December. Half of those killed were soldiers of the Wagner Group.
In Friday’s statement, Prigozhin accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov of his decision to leave Bakhmut in a cursing speech.
“Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where’s the ammo? You came here as volunteers and die while you get fat in your marble offices!” he said.
The two members of the Russian government were often the target of Prigozhin’s wrath. Meanwhile, various groups among the allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin are vying for power.
In the statement, Prigozhin said that due to the lack of ammunition, Wagner group casualties “are increasing every day in geometric progression.”
However, he says his fighters will remain in their positions until May 9, when Russia celebrates World War II Victory Day.
In the previously released video, Prigozhin standing in front of his men said he would “transfer positions in the Bakhmut settlement to Defense Ministry units and move the remains of Wagner Group soldiers to logistics camps” to recover from defeats.
“My boys will not accept senseless and unjustified losses at Bakhmut due to lack of ammunition,” he added.
One of the videos released by Prigozhin on Friday appears to have been shot about 2 km outside the center of Bakhmut. The BBC compared ground features, including bushes and posts, to satellite imagery of the site.
Prigozhin uses public relations a lot as a strategy, and his influence appears to have waned in recent months. He has already made threats that he has not followed through on later saying they were just “jokes” and “military humour”.
Last week, he told a prowar Russian blogger that the group’s fighters were running low on supplies and needed thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Credit, CONCORD PRESS SERVICE
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Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that he would leave the city
The Kremlin did not comment on Prigozhin’s recent statements.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military says it has seen no change in the intensity of fighting near Bakhmut.
“For months, Prigozhin has been trying to make outrageous statements to draw attention to himself,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Command, told BBC Ukraine.
Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar said Russia is desperate to take Bakhmut by May 9. The war began in February 2022.
Prigozhin has become a key player in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the head of a private mercenary army leading the Russian onslaught.
The group was made up mostly of exRussian soldiers between the ages of 30 and 35, but began recruiting prisoners from penal colonies in 2022 to fill staff shortages, according to information from BBC News Russia’s British intelligence service.
In return, freedom and financial compensation were offered. Also according to the investigation of the BBC service in Russia, lawyers say that sending prisoners to war is illegal in the country.
Despite this, the prison administrations released convicts to fight in Prigozhin’s group.
Russian mercenaries and military men fight side by side against the Ukrainian military.
Prigozhin hails from St. Petersburg, the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He is the owner of several restaurants in the city and also has a company that makes food for events hired by the Kremlin earning Prigozhin the nickname “Putin’s Chef”.
The battle for Bakhmut has dragged on for months. Ukraine decided to defend the city at all costs in an apparent attempt to concentrate Russian military resources in a location of relatively minor importance.
In February, Prigozhin had posted another picture of his dead troops, blaming army chiefs for their deaths.
Although the military at the time denied intentionally shortcircuiting Wagner’s ammunition, they responded by increasing supplies at the front lines.
US military analyst Rob Lee said on social media that Wagner’s latest complaint about shortages was likely the result of the Russian Defense Ministry’s rationing of ammunition ahead of Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive.
The ministry must defend the entire front line, but Prigozhin’s only concern is capturing Bakhmut, Lee wrote on Twitter.
If the Wagner group manages to take the city, Prigozhin can claim political credit, Lee added.
Credit, Getty Images
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Yevgeny Prigozhin became known as “Putin’s cook”.
Ukrainian counteroffensive
The head of the mercenaries himself predicted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will begin on May 15, as tanks and artillery will be able to advance in dry weather after the last spring rains.
In another move, Prigozhin appears to have hired an army general who was recently fired as head of logistics.
Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev has been dubbed the “Butcher of Mariupol” for his role in last year’s bombing of the southern Ukrainian port city that was captured by Russian forces a year ago. He has been responsible for logistics since September last year.
Prigozhin pointed out that the general did his best to supply the mercenaries with ammunition and cooperated in the group’s efforts to recruit convicted prisoners into its ranks.
But Prigozhin was previously filmed in a Russian prison telling inmates they would be released from prison if they served with his men in Ukraine prior to Mizintsev’s appointment as logistician.