Moscow promised the Wagner mercenaries the ammunition they needed to continue the fight. The head of the mercenary force deployed in Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Telegram that he had been assured of as much equipment as was required during the night. It was only on Friday that Prigozhin threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the city in eastern Ukraine, which had been fought over for months, citing a lack of supplies as the reason.
As a result, his mercenaries would have to retreat to supply camps on May 10 and hand over their positions to the Russian army, he said. Meanwhile, the Russian armed forces controlled about 95 percent of Bakhmut, Prigozhin’s press service informed, according to TASS on Telegram. The remaining five percent played no part in the Russian army’s march further west. “Two square kilometers does not affect the progress of the military operation at all.”
More than a year after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, an open power struggle is raging within the Russian military leadership. Prigozhin recently repeatedly complained publicly about an alleged lack of ammunition.
