In an expletive-laden video filmed in front of a field of corpses, Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the head of the army Valery Gerasimov of failing to supply his troops in Ukraine with enough ammunition.<\/p>\n
He said he will pull his forces out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where they\u2019ve been fighting since late last year, on May 10 if he doesn\u2019t get more munitions. That threat came in a separate written appeal to President Vladimir Putin published Friday, echoing a warning he issued late last month. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all Wagner guys who were killed today, the blood is still fresh,\u201d Prigozhin said in the grisly video posted Friday on his Telegram channel, in which he claimed his troops lacked 70% of the ammunition they needed. <\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the shortage of munitions, our losses are growing geometrically on a daily basis,\u201d he said in the written appeal. Wagner has already advanced most of the way into Bakhmut, he said, claiming that only a small amount remains to be seized. <\/p>\n
Prigozhin has repeatedly accused the Defense Ministry in Moscow of failing to supply enough ammunition to Wagner troops who\u2019ve been fighting intense battles for months with Ukrainian forces in an operation he said was called the \u201cBakhmut Meatgrinder.\u201d It\u2019s not clear whether the friction is genuine or a possible attempt to lull Ukraine\u2019s military into believing that Russian forces are less well-equipped than in fact they are.<\/p>\n
In his written appeal to Putin, Prigozhin recounted his version of the conflict, blaming \u201cbureaucrats\u201d for starving his units to prevent Wagner from meeting its goal of retaking all of Bakhmut by May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory in World War II. <\/p>\n
The Kremlin is aware of the appeal but spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on it, according to RIA Novosti.<\/p>\n
\u201cWagner has long had a significant artillery advantage in Bakhmut and received preferential support,\u201d Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said Friday on Twitter. The tensions are likely a reflection of the Defense Ministry rationing ammunition before an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive because it \u201chas to defend the whole front but Prigozhin only cares about taking Bakhmut,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Defense Ministry has rejected Prigozhin\u2019s criticism and Shoigu said Wednesday that \u201csufficient ammunition has already been delivered to the Armed Forces this year to inflict effective fire damage on the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(Updates with Kremlin comment in seventh paragraph.)<\/p>\n
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