Russia’s Wagner boss threatens Bakhmut pullout
Accuses Moscow of starving forces of ammunition
KYIV — The owner of Russia’s Wagner military contractor threatened Friday to withdraw his troops next week from the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, accusing Moscow’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy entrepreneur with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner fighters had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9, Russia’s Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. But they were undersupplied and suffering heavy losses, he said, and would hand over operations to the regular army on May 10.
It is not the first time Prigozhin has raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia’s military, with which he has long been in conflict. Known for bluster, he has previously made unverifiable claims and threats he hasn’t carried out.
Prigozhin’s spokespeople also published a video of him Friday shouting, swearing, and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground. He says they are Wagner fighters who died on Thursday alone and demands ammunition from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov.
“These are someone’s fathers and someone’s sons,” Prigozhin says. “The scum that doesn’t give us ammunition will eat their guts in hell.”
Yohann Michel, a research analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, said Prigozhin's comments should usually be taken with a grain of salt, but “this time I would take a shovel of salt, atleast , or maybe a truck.”
But why Prigozhin is threatening to pull his forces out is an open question, Michel said. He might want to regroup without being accused of retreating; he may worry about being fired for not taking the city and prefer to say he left on his own; or he could genuinely need more ammunition.
“The only thing I am taking seriously from that declaration is that Bakhmut is probably not ready to fall," said Michel, who is based in Berlin.
Wagner has spearheaded the struggle for Bakhmut, the war’s longest — and likely bloodiest — battle. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday the US estimates that nearly half of the 20,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine since December were Wagner fighters in Bakhmut.
A pullout by Wagner would be a huge blow to the Russian campaign.
For the Ukrainian side, Bakhmut has become an important symbol of resistance to Russia’s invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky says its loss could build international support for a deal that could require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises.
Like Michel, Ukrainian officials were skeptical about Prigozhin’s claims of ammunition shortages. Military intelligence representative Andrii Cherniak said Prigozhin was trying to “justify their unsuccessful actions” in Bakhmut.
Shoigu didn’t immediately respond to Prigozhin, but his ministry reported Friday that he ordered a top official to ensure a “continuous supply” of all necessa ry weapons and military equipment to Russian troops. And in a counterpoint to Prigozhin’s visibility, an official video showed Shoigu inspecting tanks and other military equipment destined for Russian troops in Ukraine.
At the end of last year, the US estimated Wagner had about 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts the company has enlisted. That makes it a small part of Russian fighting forces.
If Prigozhin did pull Wagner's troops out of Bakhmut, it would have serious implications, Michel said.
“If he's removed from the front line — except if Russia surprisingly has reserves that they did not want to use before — I think we can say it is the end of this phase of the offensive for Russia,” he said.
Prigozhin's acrimonious relations with the military brass date back to Wagner’s creation in 2014. During the war in Ukraine, he has publicly accused some top Russian military officials of incompetence — behavior that is highly unusual in Russia’s tightly controlled political system.
Prigozhin alleged Friday that Russia’s regular army was supposed to protect the flanks as Wagner troops pushed forward but is “barely holding on to them,” deploying “tens and rarely hundreds” of troops.
Bakhmut, about 34 miles north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, has tactical military value for Moscow, though analysts say it won’t be decisive in the war’s outcome.