2023-05-09 09:11:34
The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner on Tuesday accused Russian regular army soldiers of fleeing their positions in Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine, and accused the state of being unable to defend the Russia.
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Businessman Evguéni Prigojine is in open conflict with the Russian military hierarchy, which he accuses of not providing enough ammunition to his group, on the front line in Bakhmout.
“Today (Tuesday), one of the units of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks (…) They left their positions, they all fled”, accused Mr. Prigojine, in a video posted on Telegram.
“Why can’t the state defend the country?” he said once more, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was overseeing a military parade in Moscow at the same time commemorating “Victory Day” over Nazi Germany in 1945.
“Victory Day is the victory of our ancestors, we didn’t deserve even a fraction of that victory,” Prigojine said.
“There is a crime called ‘the destruction of the Russian people’ (…) And that’s what a small group does,” he said once more, pointing to the general staff. .
Last week, Wagner’s boss announced that he would withdraw his men from Bakhmout on May 10 if the general staff did not provide him with the ammunition he was asking for. On Sunday, he claimed to have received “the promise” of sufficient deliveries, seeming to rule out any immediate retreat from Bakhmout.
Tuesday, however, he reiterated that he would begin the withdrawal in the absence of sufficient deliveries: he said that Wagner had received Tuesday “only 10%” of the ammunition he had requested.
“We will not leave (Bakhmout), we will (stay) for a few more days, we will fight despite everything, we will manage,” he said, appearing to postpone his ultimatum for a few days.
If he has been criticizing the commanders of the Russian army for months, whom he depicts as incapable, his verbal attacks have gone up a notch for several days.
On Tuesday, he also accused the military hierarchy of seeking to “deceive” Vladimir Putin.
“If everything is done to deceive the Commander-in-Chief (Vladimir Putin), then either the Commander-in-Chief will tear your heart apart or it will be the Russian people who will be furious if the war is lost,” he said. launched in its usual flowery language.
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