The founder of the Wagner group criticizes that the Russian Ministry of Defense did not mention the mercenaries when announcing the capture of Soledar
Wagner Group founder Yevgueni Prigozhin denounced this Thursday that forces inside Russia are trying to steal victories from Russian mercenaries, after the Russian Defense Ministry at no point in its announcement about the capture of Soledar mentioned the private military company that fought in this eastern Ukrainian city. “They constantly try to steal victory from Wagner’s mercenaries and talk about the presence of someone who is not clear, just to downplay their merits,” Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel, using a question on testimony from an adviser to the state department of the USA on the activities of the group.
Prigozhin has also considered that, more than US statements about Washington’s alleged work to neutralize Wagner’s activities, “it is the internal infighting, the corruption, the bureaucracy and the officials who want to remain in their posts” in Russia that are causing it “Cause material damage” can the company you run.
Prighozin and the Defense Ministry have been at odds for months, as Wagner’s leader has repeatedly criticized the course of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and the leadership responsible for its organization, including the new chief of Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine, Valeri Gerasimov.
He has repeatedly stressed that without his mercenaries, the war intervention would suffer even more setbacks than it has already experienced in the past 10 months. Prigozhin’s statements come after Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov stated in his daily war report today that “last night, on December 12, the liberation of the city of Soledar was completed.”
Konashenkov specified that during the operation “airborne troops units conducted a covert maneuver from another direction, successfully attacked the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, occupied command heights and blocked the city from the north and south,” he said. . In addition, he said that the capture of Soledar was made possible “due to constant ground and air attacks” by the army and rocket artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces.
However, the Ukrainian army denies the loss of the city. “Heavy fighting continues in Soledar,” said Serhiy Cherevati, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Armed Forces. “Ukrainian armed forces are keeping the situation under control in difficult conditions,” he added.
On the 11th, announcing the takeover of the city, Prigozhin assured that his units had taken control of the city and that “only Wagner Group combatants, and not military units” of the Russian Army took part in the attack on Soledar.
Wagner’s boss today also published in his telegram the statement of the head of the League for the Protection of Interests of Veterans of Local Wars and Military Conflicts Andrei Troshev, who said he read the defense report “with surprise” about the capture Soledar, in the Donetsk region . “There was not a single paratrooper in Soledar, the paratroopers themselves confirm this. Soledar was taken solely through the efforts of Wagner’s fighters. And there is no need to insult the fighters by belittling their merits. You demotivate them. We must fight and not compete with the members and steal other people’s merits,” he claimed. (Efe)