Yevgeny Prigozhin declares, “In the absence of ammunition they are destined to die senselessly.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of the mercenary group known as the Wagner Group from Russia, abruptly and dramatically announced on Friday that his troops would leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which they had been attempting in vain to seize since last summer.
Due to significant casualties and insufficient ammunition supply, Prigozhin announced that they would retire on May 10 and conclude their participation in the longest and bloodiest fight of the war. He requested that regular army troops be placed in their place by the defence commanders.
In a statement, Prigozhin said, “I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are compelled to withdraw the remnants of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds and transfer positions in the Bakhmut settlement to defence ministry units.”
Because they will inevitably die needlessly in the absence of ammunition, I am removing Wagner units from Bakhmut.
Due to the severity and length of the combat there, Bakhmut, a city of 70,000 inhabitants before the war began, has acquired significant symbolic significance for both sides.
Wagner has been leading Russia’s effort to take it, and three weeks ago, Prigozhin claimed that his troops held more than 80% of the city.
Prigozhin has expressed growing rage at what he perceives to be a lack of support from the Russian defence establishment as the Ukrainian defenders have persisted.
Criticises the Russian defence minister
Given that he has a history of making rash comments online, it was unclear if his most recent statement could be taken at its value. Only this week did he retract one claim that he claimed to have made as a “joke.”
He was seen shouting and swearing at Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier on Friday in a video that showed him standing around dozens of dead bodies that he claimed were Wagner fighters.
The statement comes at a crucial point in the conflict when Ukraine is expecting to begin a long-awaited counteroffensive soon.
After Moscow accused Ukraine of shooting drones towards the Kremlin in the early hours of Wednesday in an effort to kill President Vladimir Putin, this dramatic development was the second in three days. The Kremlin’s involvement in the incident was disputed by Kiev, and the United States labelled the Kremlin’s claims as “lies.”
Requests the use of Russian replacement soldiers
The statement by Prigozhin was related to the progress of the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, thus the Kremlin chose not to respond to it.
The declaration, which was addressed to Putin as supreme commander, the defence ministry, and the head of general staff, stated that “our losses are increasing exponentially every day due to the lack of ammunition.”
“If, because of your petty jealousy, you do not want to give the Russian people the victory of taking Bakhmut, that’s your problem,” Prigozhin continued in the video.
Prigozhin claimed he was requesting that Gerasimov clarify when regular forces would take the place of the Wagner battalions in Bakhmut.
Defence chiefs have just five days to fill the void left by a Wagner withdrawal due to the declared withdrawal date of May 10. On May 9, when Russia remembers its triumph over Nazi Germany in the Second World War and Putin is scheduled to address the nation from Red Square, it also poses a threat to overshadow national celebrations.
Prigozhin, who is sought in the US in relation to charges of interfering with the 2016 election, stated that he anticipated criticism.
“Come to Bakhmut, you’re welcome, and stand up with guns in your hands in memory of our slain comrades,” the message read.
Wagner will return, he added, saying, “We will lick our wounds and rise again to protect the Motherland when it is in jeopardy. The people of Russia can rely on us.
Residents of Kherson depart before the weekend curfew
On the ground, Ukraine said on Friday that two people had died and nine had been injured in the eastern Donetsk region over the previous 24 hours, and that shelling had also damaged the electrical distribution networks in Donetsk and the southern Kherson region.
As Kherson in southern Ukraine prepared to implement a 58-hour curfew following a slew of Russian strikes, small buses and scores of cars departed the city.
Oleksander Tolokonnikov, a spokesman for the Kherson regional military administration, stated that “no one will lock people in houses, and people will be able, if they need to, go out near [the house] to buy what they need.”
Moscow’s military, who once controlled large portions of the Kherson region, are regularly shelling Kherson, which Ukraine reclaimed from Russian troops last November following eight months of Russian rule.
Russian guided bombs struck two towns in the Ukrainian-controlled portion of the Kherson area four times on Friday, the regional government reported, damaging 20 residential dwellings and destroying a church.
It stated without going into any detail that one other person was hurt in the attacks. Russian shelling in the area on Wednesday claimed the lives of 23, according to local authorities.
The unusually lengthy curfew in Kherson is scheduled to start on Friday night.
Russia has also commanded a departure. Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin’s appointed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, claimed on Friday that he had ordered the evacuation of communities near to the battle line because recent days had seen an increase in Ukrainian shelling.
