Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military company “Wagner”, said that he and his fighters are asking for more ammunition, but that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “cut off” all means of communication and direct lines of communication for them.
In a recording, Prigozhin said, “To stop me from asking for more ammunition, all direct lines to offices, departments, etc. were cut off for me. But what is not normal is that they also prevented the agencies from making their decisions.”
This is a shocking turn of events, and it may be important, because Wagner is of course responsible for Putin’s small successes in eastern Ukraine in this war.
The United States estimates nearly 50,000 Wagner soldiers were fighting at the start of this year, but lately Prigozhin and his fighters have been clamoring and banging tables for more ammunition almost on a daily basis, with Wagner’s chief saying in the past few days: “I’m banging on all of them.” doors, give the alarm as to ammunition and forces as well as cover our troops.”
While Wagner soldiers said in a video clip: “We, the artillery unit, “Wagner BMC”, conduct difficult missions every day. We cover assault groups. At this moment we are completely cut off from ammunition supplies.”
For its part, the regular Russian military has been complaining that a lot of ammunition is going to the Wagner fighters so far, with one Russian soldier saying in a video: “All the ammunition will now go to Artimovsk (the old name for Bakhmut), to the Wagner BMC units.” Which can fire a whole week’s worth of ammunition in one day, which we can’t afford.”
This is a remarkable turn of events, especially since the Wagner flag is currently flying east of Bakhmut.
