Chechen Kadyrov is ready to replace the Wagners in Bakhmut
Chechen leader Ramzán Kadírov said Friday that he would replace the Wagner Group mercenaries in Bakhmut with his special forces. Kadyrov made these statements after his boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his early withdrawal from the area due to a lack of Russian ammunition.
“If the elder brother Prigozhin and Wagner leave, the General Staff will lose an experienced unit, but the younger brother Kadyorv will take his place and [la unidad especial] Ahmat,” Kadyrov published on his Telegram channel. The Chechen leader noted that the eviction could happen “within hours” and that his soldiers “are already ready to advance and take the city”.
Despite the offer, after Prigozhin denounced the lack of support from Moscow, Kadyrov insisted he hopes to be able to count on the supreme command and Russian soldiers to carry out the orders of Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin. He also recalled that Chechen units have already fought with Wagner mercenaries in places like Popasna, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, cities in the Lugansk region. “Together we fulfill the sacred duty to the fatherland without divisions of ethnicity or creed. The interests of the state must come first”.
The Chechen criticized the Russian Defense Ministry for not being willing to meet with Prigozhin, whom he praised for his “invaluable contribution to the liberation of Donbass”.
The Wagner Group announced today that it will withdraw its mercenaries from Bakhmut on May 10 amid an open war with Russia’s Defense Ministry over ammunition shortages.
“I am withdrawing Wagner’s units from Bakhmut because they are doomed to a senseless death due to lack of ammunition,” Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement addressed to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, among others, and to the Russian people. .
Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war since August 2022, is currently the main target of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Prigozhin’s recruited mercenaries and ex-convicts have taken virtually the entire city, where the Ukrainian defenders would control only 2.5 square kilometers. (EFE)