Russia’s Wagner chief warned that the front line would collapse if forced to retreat from Bakhmut. | – #Russias #Wagner #chief #warned #front #line #collapse #forced #retreat #Bakhmut
March 6 (Reuters) – The founder of Russia’s “Wagner” mercenary forces said that currently of Ukraine His troops, who have strengthened control in the city of Bakhmut, are out of ammunition, and if they are forced to retreat, the entire front will collapse.
“If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released over the weekend. “All who protect the interests of Russia military The situation will not be sweet for the unions.”
Reuters could not independently verify when and where the video was taken. The footage was posted on the Telegram channel, which disseminates news of Prigozhin and associates itself with the Wagner Group. Video It was not broadcast on the channel of Prigozhin’s regular press service.
Prigozhin said on Friday that his units in the last week Russia practically besieged Bakhmut, where the fighting intensified with the attack of his forces from almost all sides.
Latest UpdatesEuropeCategoryBelarusian Nobel laureate Bialiatskyi 10 for a year imprisonment did; EU, USA protest, pictorial articleEurope categoryGreece train crash: Victims’ families grieve as protests grow video article withVideo
See 2 more stories
But on Sunday, he complained that most of the ammunition Moscow had promised his forces in February had still not been sent.
“For now, we are trying to understand the reason for this: is it ordinary bureaucracy or treason,” Prigozhin said on the Telegram channel of the regular press service.
Mercenary chief regularly criticizes Russian defense chiefs and high-ranking generals. Last month, he accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and others of “treason” for concealing the supply of ammunition to his militia.
In a nearly four-minute video posted on the Wagner Orchestra’s Telegram channel on Saturday, Prigozhin said his troops were worried Moscow might want to set them up as possible scapegoats if Russia loses the war.
“If we retreat, then we will forever go down in history as the people who took the main step towards defeat in the war,” Prigozhin said.
“That’s the problem with ammunition starvation.”
Apparently speaking from a bunker, Prigozhin said in the video that his troops would be interested in being “prepared” for defeat by the country’s top brass, or perhaps someone “higher up.”
Reporting by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne and Nick Starkov in Kyiv; Written by Lydia Kelly; Edited by Stephen Coates
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-03-06 05:32:31
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”