Russian Mercenary Leader Announces Major Retreat from Bakhmut Region
Wagner forces will leave Bakhmut to "lick our wounds."
A raging Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner Group, stabbed a pointing finger at Russian leadership on Friday, saying his fighters will pull out of the long-fought Ukrainian battleground of Bakhmut on May 10. In an incendiary video, Prigozhin ripped into Russia’s leaders over the lack of even basic ammunition support from Moscow, saying that they are living the high life in redwood offices while dooming his troops “to a senseless death.”
The Wagner chief stood alongside what looked like rows of his recruits’ bloodied corpses and became apoplectic with rage as he said he lacked 70 percent of the ammunition he needs on the battlefield….
The video opens with Prigozhin pointing a flashlight on his apparently lifeless mercenaries and saying they were Wagner recruits who died on the day the footage was recorded. “Their blood is still fresh,” he said before instructing the cameraman to make sure he films all of the corpses….
“You bastards sit in your expensive clubs. Your children enjoy life and film YouTube videos. You think you own this life and you have the right to decide their fates!… They came here as volunteers and they are dying so you can enjoy life in your offices with red wood furniture.”
The video ends with a long hold on the bloody corpses.
Prigozhin claimed his forces had only 30% of the ammo they need.
It turns out Ukraine was right: Russia’s claims about Bakhmut, a small town “holding little strategic significance,” being fully taken over were always wrong:
Russia has made repeated claims of being close to completely capturing the city, but Ukraine has always maintained that the city has not been lost.
Wagner will wait until after Russia’s big Victory Day celebrations to carry out its retreat in order to avoid casting a pall over the celebrations.