The leader of the Russian paramilitary group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, announced this Sunday that the Russian Defense Ministry promised arms and ammunition to continue fighting in Bakhmut, after threatening to withdraw its mercenaries from the Ukrainian city.
“Tonight, for the first time, we received an order indicating that we will receive the weapons and ammunition necessary to continue combat actions,” Prigozhin said in an audio message broadcast on his Telegram channel, quoted by the EFE news agency.
The leader of the Wagner group also indicated that he assured that “everything will be done” so that “the Ukrainian enemy does not attack” and that the Wagner group can “act in Artiomovsk [nome russo para Bakhmut] as you see fit.”
Prigozhin also stated that General Sergei Surovikin would be responsible for “making decisions about Wagner’s combat actions and his communication with the Defense Ministry.”
The statements by the leader of the paramilitary group come after he asked the Russian army for permission this Saturday to hand over positions in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to the troops of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, in protest at the lack of ammunition.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Friday expressed his readiness to replace the Wagner Group in Bakhmut with his special units.
Bakhmut, the scene since August 2022 of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war in Ukraine, is currently the main target of the Russian military campaign.
So far, the mercenaries and ex-cons recruited by Prigozhin have taken virtually the entire city, where the Ukrainian defenders will control just 2.5 square kilometers.
In recent weeks, tensions have risen between the paramilitary group and the Russian military, with Prigozhin accusing the Russian General Staff of failing to provide the Wagner group with enough ammunition to prevent a victory that would dwarf the country’s military.
In another video posted early Friday morning, Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Minister and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff of being responsible for the paramilitary group’s losses.
It is not the first time that Prigozhin has threatened to withdraw the Wagner group from Bakhmut due to lack of ammunition.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine -justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, according to his arguments- was condemned by the international community in general, that it has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: TSF
