DUC TRUNG (Synthesis)
The head of the Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has repeatedly complained to government military officials for not providing enough ammunition for his forces at the Bakhmut battlefield, which he aims to take control of by May 9 to mark Victory Day.
Mr. Yevgeny Prigozhin (center) with Wagner forces in a video on May 5. Photo: AFP
In an interview with pro-Russian blogger Semyon Pegov on April 30, Mr. Prigozhin said that the artillery ammunition supply of the Wagner mercenary company in Bakhmut was exhausted, only enough for a few days, not a few weeks, and threatened to withdraw his troops from there if this force did not receive more ammunition to continue fighting from the government .
On May 4, Mr. Prigozhin posted a video on the Telegram application calling on Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Army Valery Gerasimov to provide more ammunition, along with images of casualties of Wagner mercenaries. He said Wagner was about 70% short of ammunition needs.
A day later, Mr. Prigozhin released a new video with a harsh message. The video shows him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, while accusing Mr. Shoigu and Mr. Gerasimov of being responsible for tens of thousands of Wagner mercenaries being killed and wounded because they were not provided with enough artillery shells. He said that since May 1, Russian military officials had stopped supplying Wagner with artillery shells, which has caused the private military company to suffer huge losses that are increasing exponentially every day. “Wagner’s offensive resources have been exhausted since the beginning of April, but we are still advancing despite the enemy’s forces outnumbering us by five times,” Mr. Prigozhin said. Mr. Prigozhin reiterated that Wagner’s goal is to take control of Bakhmut by May 9, but the problem for the Russian military is that they are “jealous” of the company.
Commenting on the harsh criticism, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the Kremlin was aware of Mr. Prigozhin's videos, but refused to comment on the issue because it was related to Russia's military activities in Ukraine.
However, in what appeared to be a response to Prigozhin’s criticism, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on May 5 that Shoigu had visited Russian troops in the south to inspect the readiness of military equipment sent to combat units in Ukraine. Shoigu said that the supply of artillery shells was under “special control” by a deputy defense minister to ensure that combat units in Ukraine were fully supplied with all necessary weapons and military equipment. In February 2023, the Wagner leader also complained about the lack of ammunition on Telegram and soon after said that the requested amount of weapons was on the way to this mercenary force.
It is noteworthy that along with "complaining" about the lack of artillery shells, on May 5, Mr. Prigozhin still strongly declared: "Despite all those difficulties, the Wagner command council has decided to maintain its position and continue the attack on Bakhmut until May 10, to celebrate the sacred Russian holiday, Victory Day, May 9, with elite Russian weapons."
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also said Wagner was withdrawing forces from the entire frontline to concentrate on Bakhmut in order to achieve the symbolic goal of taking control of the city by May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.
After the end of the offensive on May 10, Mr. Prigozhin said Wagner fighters would hand over positions in Bakhmut to the Russian army and withdraw forces to logistics bases to stabilize their ranks.
AP news agency quoted information from US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying that Wagner has about 50,000 gunmen fighting in Ukraine and since December last year, it is estimated that nearly 10,000 armed personnel of this group have died in Bakhmut.
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