Yevgeny Prigojine has been criticizing the commanders of the Russian army for months, whom he depicts as incapable. In particular, he had announced that he would withdraw his men from Bakhmout if the general staff did not provide him with the ammunition he was asking for.
The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner on Tuesday accused soldiers of the Russian regular army of having fled their positions in Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and accused the state of being unable to defend Russia.
Businessman Evguéni Prigojine is in open conflict with the Russian military hierarchy, which he accuses of not providing enough ammunition to his group, on the front line in Bakhmout.
“Today (Tuesday), one of the units of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks (…) They left their positions, they all fled”, accused Yevgeny Prigojine, in a video posted on Telegram.
“The destruction of the Russian people”
“Why can’t the state manage to defend the country?” he said again, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was overseeing a military parade in Moscow commemorating the “Day of the Victory” over Nazi Germany in 1945.
“Victory Day is the victory of our ancestors, we did not deserve even a fraction of this victory,” tackled Yevgeny Prigojine.
“There is a crime called ‘the destruction of the Russian people’ (…) And that’s what a small group is doing,” he said again, pointing to the general staff. .
Last week, Wagner’s boss announced that he would withdraw his men from Bakhmout on May 10 if the general staff did not provide him with the ammunition he was asking for. On Sunday, he claimed to have received “the promise” of sufficient deliveries, seeming to rule out any immediate retreat from Bakhmout.
“We’ll manage”
This Tuesday, however, he reiterated that he would begin the withdrawal in the absence of sufficient deliveries: he affirmed that Wagner had received Tuesday “only 10%” of the ammunition he had requested.
“We will not leave (Bakhmout), we will (stay) for a few more days, we will fight despite everything, we will manage,” he said, appearing to postpone his ultimatum for a few days.
If he has been criticizing the commanders of the Russian army for months, whom he depicts as incapable, his verbal attacks have gone up a notch for several days. On Tuesday, he also accused the military hierarchy of seeking to “deceive” Vladimir Putin.
“If everything is done to deceive the Commander-in-Chief (Vladimir Putin), then either the Commander-in-Chief will rip your c… or it will be the Russian people who will be furious if the war is lost,” he said. launched in its usual flowery language.
