Bakhmut fighting
Ukrainian troops in a firefight with the Russians at Bakhmut. The Wagner group’s mercenary leader says Russian troops are withdrawing from positions in the area. (Da Vinci Wolves/Goner.Group)
Divisions between Russia’s defense ministry and its notorious Wagner group continue to show in public with mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin suggesting on Tuesday that Russian forces have abandoned their posts in Bakhmut.
In a video posted on messaging app Telegram, President Vladimir Putin’s former top ally said units of the Russian army “fled from one of our flanks” and exposed its forces to Ukrainian assaults, which he said they were “wrecking flanks,” according to multiple reports.
Priogzhin’s claims of a Russian retreat were echoed by the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade, which said forces of the Russian 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade fled from Bakhmut on Tuesday.
Ukrainian soldiers fire on frontline targets in the direction of the city of Ugledar, Donetsk, Ukraine as the Russia-Ukraine war continues April 18, 2023. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“The 3rd Assault Brigade thanks you for publicizing our success at the front,” the brigade said in a direct message to Prigozhin on Telegram, adding that “Wagnerites” were among the troops who abandoned their posts. .
Prigozhin further warned that while brutal fighting continues to unfold on the Bakhmut Front, which Russia has failed to fully capture despite immense efforts over the past six months, Ukrainian forces are also regrouping in the Zaporizhzhia region, an area of which Kyiv needs according to Western defense analysts. start kicking Russia out of her borders.
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“They are absolutely clear: the counteroffensive will be on the ground, not on television,” Prigozhin added according to the Moscow Times.
Chief Wagner said his forces, which had suffered significant losses, would not give up their posts to Bakhmut, although he also said Russian troops were abandoning their positions due to “stupid” and “criminal orders”.
“Soldiers shouldn’t die because of the sheer stupidity of their leadership,” he said.
Bloodstained stretchers from previous casualties as a brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stands ready to receive casualties, and for an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, at a hidden stabilization point in the Donetsk region in the direction of Bakhmut, April 27, 2023. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
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Prigozhin further said that he was also informed that if his soldiers left their positions in Bakhmut’s sector, it would be “considered a treason against the Motherland”.
“(But) if there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and we will ask who is really betraying the Motherland,” he continued according to a Reuters translation, issuing his repeated threat to withdraw his mercenaries from the war if not receive adequate supplies. “Apparently, that (betray the Motherland) is the person who signed (the order to supply too little ammunition.)”
The divisions between Chief Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry have become increasingly apparent for months.
The founder of the Wagner private mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, speaks beside the bodies of what he says are Wagner fighters killed in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in an undisclosed location, in this still from video released on May 5, 2023. (“Concord” press service/Handout via Reuters)
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It’s unclear where Prigozhin stands when it comes to Putin, but Kremlin officials have taken steps to limit Wagner’s ability to continue to build up his fighting power, including revoking his ability to recruit jailed men and supply in inadequately its frontline fighting forces.
There was also debate between the two warring powers over who led the charge in Bakhmut’s highly contested sector.
