The war in Ukraine continues to unfold with the main focus on Bakhmut, the scene of the main fighting in recent months. However, after Wagner Group troops captured much of the city, their advances have stalled due to repeated claims on Moscow by Russian mercenaries.
This Saturday, May 6, paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin called on the Kremlin to hand over its units’ combat posts to Chechen troops in a new lawsuit against the Russian government, which he accuses of not having the necessary weapons for the resistance to have sent.
“I ask you to issue a combat order for the transfer of positions from Wagner’s paramilitary units in Bakhmut and its periphery to the units of the Akhmat battalion by 00:00 on May 10,” Prigozhin said in a letter to the defense minister Sergei Shoigu.
Wagner’s leader added that only two square kilometers remained to be taken, a mission that “can no doubt be accomplished by Achmat’s forces,” who he envisioned could procure the necessary weapons from the Kremlin.
FILE – Members of the Ukrainian army fire a D30 howitzer at a front line near the city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 23, 2023. © Portal
Of Chechen origin, the Akhmat Battalion is owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, a strong figure who has ruled Chechnya, a Muslim-majority republic in Russia, for more than a decade.
This comes days after Prigozhin denounced a significant shortage of ammunition and announced that Wagner will leave the front at Bakhmut on May 10. In his allegations, he added that since October 2022, the military portfolio has deployed only 32% of requested supplies.
Ukrainian civilian arrested for attack on Prilepin
A man has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack on popular pro-Russian writer Zajar Prilepin, who was injured this Saturday May 6 after an explosion in his car that killed his driver .
“In the Nizhny Novgorod region, police officers detained a man they were chasing, who may have been involved in the explosion of the car in which Prilepin was traveling,” Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said.
Image released by the Russian Investigative Committee shows the site of the explosion of writer Zakhar Prilepin’s car on May 6, 2023. © TASS/AFP
The official TASS agency stated that the person in question is a citizen of Ukrainian origin, born in 1993 and has a criminal record.
The Russian investigative committee called the strike against the nationalist thinker, who fought in Donbass between 2016 and 2018 and is currently fighting in Ukraine, an “act of terrorism”.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners
On the other hand, this Saturday Kiev highlighted that 45 fighters returned to Ukrainian soil. Those involved were part of the Azov battalion captured after heavy fighting in the port city of Mariupol. The head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, stated that three of the detainees were women.
In return, Moscow received three pilots who were in Ukrainian custody. However, neither party gave further details about this exchange.
Moscow is not happy with the grain deal
Meanwhile, after meeting with Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan, Russia remains dissatisfied with the way the issue of Russian agricultural exports is being resolved under the Black Sea Grains Agreement.
“We are still not satisfied with the progress,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin told RT.
While these Russian exports are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow claims payment, logistics and insurance restrictions are a barrier to shipments.
However, in the coming days there will be a new conclave between the deputy ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN to make progress before the deal is finalized on May 18.
With EFE and AFP