The leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary army warned that without ammunition, Russia’s position near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was in danger, the most recent indication of a rift between the Kremlin and the leader of the private militia.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian military authorities and analysts, commanders of the Russian 155th Brigade operating south of Bakhmut near the town of Vuhledar were defying orders to attack after suffering significant losses while attempting to take it.
The Ukrainian Azov Regiment’s command centre was attacked by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, on Sunday in the southeast Zaporizhzhia region. The ministry made no more mention of the assault.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of Wagner, warned that if Moscow did not provide the ammunition it had promised in February, Russia’s front lines in the vicinity of Bakhmut risked collapsing.
“For now, we are trying to figure out the reason: is it just ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal,” Prigozhin, referring to the absence of ammunition, said in his press service Telegram channel on Sunday.
The mercenary leader frequently lambasts Russia’s senior generals and defense ministers. He charged last month that withholding armaments from his soldiers constituted “treason” on the part of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and others.
Prigozhin stated that his troops were concerned that the government could seek to use them as scapegoats if Russia lost the war in a roughly four-minute video posted on the Wagner Orchestra Telegram channel on Saturday.
“If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse,” Prigozhin said. “The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests.”
