Russia’s Wagner private army chief claims Moscow is denying it ammunition as it attempts to seize Bakhmut.
Wagner and regular Russian forces are attempting to seize the eastern Ukrainian metropolis.
The head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has lamented the lack of ammo, blaming “ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal.”
Relations between Wagner and Moscow seem increasingly tense.
The Wagner group has tens of thousands of forces in Ukraine, some of which were recruited directly from Russian prisons, and has become an integral component of Moscow’s invasion.
Mr. Prigozhin stated in the post on Sunday that documents were signed on February 22 and ammunition was anticipated to be sent to Bakhmut the following day.
However, the majority has not been dispatched, he said, before speculating that this may be intentional.
Separately, in a video posted on Saturday that appeared to have been filmed in February, Mr. Prigozhin stated that his men dreaded being “set up” as scapegoats if Russia lost its war in Ukraine.
“If we retreat, we will forever be known as the people who lost the war,” he said.
“And this is precisely the issue with that same shell scarcity.” This is not my view. But that of common combatants.
“What if they [the Russian authorities] want to frame us, claiming that we are scoundrels, and that’s why they don’t give us ammunition, they don’t give us firearms, and they won’t let us replenish our personnel, even from among the prisoners?”
In the video from Saturday, Mr. Prigozhin claimed that without his forces, Russia’s front line would collapse.
“If Wagner PMC [private military company] withdraws from Bakhmut at this time, the entire front will collapse, and PMC Wagner is currently fortifying it.”
“On the one hand, we are grinding and eliminating the Ukrainian army, stopping it from concentrating in other front sectors.
“On the other hand, we are advancing, and the remainder [an apparent reference to the Russian military] must catch up.”
Mr. Prigozhin complained last month that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Also Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov were depriving his troops of ammunition.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukraine’s forces are likely to conduct a “limited combat withdrawal” in eastern Bakhmut on Monday.
However, it added that Ukrainian forces were “continuing to inflict heavy casualties” on Russian forces.
According to the ISW, the Russian military relied on Wagner throughout the months-long campaign to seize Bakhmut. And has since “reinforced Wagner forces in Bakhmut with Russian airborne elements and mobilized personnel.”
On Saturday, the deputy mayor of Bakhmut told that Russian and Ukrainian forces were engaged in street combat.
Oleksandr Marchenko, however, stated that Russian troops had not yet taken control.
Mr. Marchenko stated on the Today program, “They have no intention of saving the city; their only objective is the genocide of the Ukrainian people and the murder of innocent civilians.”
According to Ukrainian military officials, commanders of the Russian 155th Brigade fighting near the town of Vuhledar, south of Bakhmut, resisted orders to advance after suffering heavy losses.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said its troops attacked a Ukrainian Azov Regiment command post in southeastern Zaporizhia.
Separately, Moscow’s Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu visited the occupied city of Mariupol during a trip to eastern Ukraine – a year after his forces besieged the city.
Given Russia’s responsibility for the devastation, the words “restore infrastructure in the Donbas” are likely to grate on Ukrainian sensibilities.
