After threats of withdrawal, the Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has received promises of sufficient ammunition so that his troops can continue their mission in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been hotly contested for months.
The army gave him an order to fight that night and promised to “give us all the ammunition and weapons we need to continue the mission,” said the head of the notorious Wagner mercenary group in an audio message distributed on Sunday.
His troops had been promised “that everything necessary would be provided,” said Prigoshin. In several video messages on Friday, he threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut on May 10. A video showed him in front of numerous corpses, which he said were killed Wagner fighters.
Cursing and screaming, Prigozhin accuses Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov of being responsible for the deaths of “tens of thousands” of Russian fighters due to a lack of ammunition deliveries. “They came here as volunteers and now they’re dying so you can get fat in your wood-panelled offices!” Prigozhin scolds in the video.
To underline his threat of withdrawal, the Wagner boss asked the Russian leadership on Saturday to be able to hand over the positions previously held by the Wagner mercenaries to the fighters of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov said his fighters were ready for action in Bakhmut.
Finally, on Sunday, Prigozhin said that in future Russian army general Sergei Surovikin, a deputy to the chief of staff, Gerasimov, whom he has criticized, will oversee the use of Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine. “He’s the only decorated general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said in another dig at the Russian army leadership.
Surovikin was appointed military commander for Ukraine in October. Three months later he was replaced by Gerasimov.
For months, Prigozhin has repeatedly criticized the Russian army leadership for the lack of ammunition deliveries. However, the videos he recently distributed were exceptionally direct in their rude choice of words and personal criticism.
Fighting over Bachmut has been going on for months
Russian and Ukrainian troops have been fighting over the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut for months. On the Russian side, the Wagner mercenaries lead the fight. In view of the duration of the fighting and the high casualties, the location now has great symbolic importance for both sides.
On Saturday, the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrsky visited the Ukrainian Eastern Front. “The enemy will not change their plans and is doing everything they can to take control of Bakhmut,” he said on Sunday.
Ukraine has recently stepped up preparations for a counter-offensive aimed at driving Russian forces from Russian-held territories in eastern and southern Ukraine. There are increasing reports of drone attacks and acts of sabotage, which experts believe are part of the Ukrainian preparations.
On Sunday, the Russian army reported that it had fended off 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea. The authorities on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia, reported the shooting down of more than ten drones. Russian intelligence said it had repelled a drone attack on an airfield in the Ivanovo region.
Meanwhile, Ukraine reported the launch of a Russian hypersonic missile for the first time on Saturday. Air Force General Mykola Oleschuk spoke of a “historic event”. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Kinzhal hypersonic missile was brought down from the sky over Kiev by a Patriot defense system on Thursday night. Kiev’s western allies delivered the first Patriots to Ukraine in mid-April.
In view of the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, Moscow ordered families and children, as well as old people, to leave several Russian-held areas in southern Ukraine.
More than 1,500 people have already been brought to safety, including more than 600 minors, said the head of administration for the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balizki, appointed by Russia on Sunday. At least 18 cities and settlements are affected by the partial evacuation, including the city of Enerhodar, where most of the employees of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant live.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, warned on Saturday that the situation in the area around the nuclear power plant was becoming “more and more unpredictable and potentially dangerous”. He was “extremely concerned” about nuclear safety and security risks to the facility. (AFP)
