The power struggle between Russia’s defense ministry and the Wagner mercenary group fighting for Moscow appears to have been settled for the time being. Wagner boss Prigoschin does not want to withdraw his men from Bachmut after all. He had reached an agreement with Moscow.
The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is unlikely to withdraw his units from the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after all. He was promised the necessary weapons and ammunition, he said.
“They promised to give us all the ammunition and equipment we need to continue the actions,” Prigozhin said in an audio message. He was assured “that everything necessary will be made available,” added the mercenary leader.
In addition, he was assured of flank protection so that his units would not run the risk of being surrounded, said Prigozhin. Moscow initially did not comment on this.
goal of particular importance
The city is the epicenter of Ukraine’s struggle against Moscow’s forces. The Wagner group has been leading the months-long Russian attack on Bakhmut and has almost captured the city. On Friday, Prigozhin threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut, citing a lack of supplies from the military leadership as the reason.
A “senseless death” threatened the Wagner fighters “due to a lack of ammunition,” explained Prigozhin. “On May 10, 2023, we will have to hand over our positions at Bakhmut to MoD units and Wagner units will have to withdraw to lick our wounds.”
In the meantime, the Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov had therefore offered to send his own unit “Achmat” to Bakhmut if Prigozhin and his people withdrew from the area. “Yes, if the older brother Prigozhin and “Wagner” should go, then the General Staff will lose an experienced unit, and in their place could then come the little brother Kadyrov and “Akhmat”,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram on Friday.
Like Kadyrov, Prigozhin is considered a hardliner in Russia’s war of aggression. International military experts had taken Prigozhin’s complaints about a lack of ammunition as a diversionary tactic to distract from their own failures. According to the US Institute for War Studies, the temporarily planned exchange with Kadyrov reflects Prigozhin’s distrust of the Russian military leadership, but also gives him the opportunity to save face if Wagner’s troops cannot take Bakhmut.
retreat from retreat
The announced withdrawal on May 10 would also have come the day after the military parade in Moscow celebrating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. Ukraine expects Russia to capture Bakhmut by that date. In recent weeks, Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in the battle for Bakhmut. But they remain in the city.
Looking to the future, Prigozhin said General Sergey Surovikin would from now on make “all decisions regarding Wagner’s military actions in cooperation with the defense minister.” He was “the only person with general’s stars in the army who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin claimed.
Surovikin was commander of Russian forces in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023. After the Russian army withdrew from Kherson, he was replaced by Valeri Gerasimov. The latter has often been criticized by Prigozhin in the past.