Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary company Wagner, complained on Friday about the lack of ammunition and directly criticized the Russian Defense Minister and the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
“These are the boys who died today, the blood is still fresh,” Prigozhin said in a videotaped message broadcast via the Telegram digital messaging network.
The images show corpses of alleged fighters hired by the Wagner company on Ukrainian soil.
Prigozhin adds that the number of casualties would have been lower if the private company had received the “adequate amount” of ammunition to fight in Ukrainian territory invaded by Russia.
According to the Russian oligarch, the combat units of the Wagner company only have 30% of the necessary ammunition, directly blaming the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valeri Gerasimov.
“They [mercenários] They came here as volunteers and die while fattening in their offices,” Progozhin said, addressing Shoigu and Gerasimov in insulting terms.
Fighters hired by the private Russian company make up Russia’s assault force, which has been in the western Ukraine city of Bakhmut (Artiomovsk, in Russian) since late last year.
On Thursday, Prigozhin said that in “just one day of fighting, 116 fighters” from the Wagner company were killed by ammunition shortages, which he considered “extremely serious.”
It is not the first time that Wagner has criticized the Ministry of Defense for problems with the supply of war material, especially ammunition.
Last March, Prigozhin even threatened to withdraw the Bakhmut detachments.
“If the private military company Wagner leaves Bakhmut, the front will collapse,” said the businessman in another message posted on the YouTube social network.
Source: TSF
