Russian Wagner Boss Challenges Zelensky in Take-All Dogfight for Bakhmut

The top boss of Wagner airs a message for President Volodymyr Zelensky that he will stake everything for dominating Bakhmut if the Ukrainian leader can take up the challenge in a take-all dogfight ending its siege.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the top boss of the Russian mercenary force Wagner, uploaded the dare to an aerial duel that can decide the fate of Ukrainians dying in the area called the 'Russian meat grinder.'

Wagner Boss Stakes Bakhmut in Aerial Duel

Prigozhin posted on social media putting on pilot's gear inside a RuAF warplane in a night sortie, reported The Eurasian Times.

He said, "We are landing. We bombed Bakhmut," and issued a dueling challenge over the area's airspace. He then said he would ride a MiG-29 the following day and added that if Zelensky were courageous enough, he would force stop. But if he wins, the Wagners will roll over the Dnipro River.

On February 6, the video published on Twitter by Francis Scarr, a digital journalist, showed the Russian mercenary chief stated it in a Su-24 bomber as the navigator.

Predictably Abdujalil, a BBC video journalist, reposted the video in which he asserted if the mercenary boss is doing the same PR stunt as Putin. During the second Chechen war done by Putin in 1999-the 2000s.

In March 2000, the Kremlin leader rode in Su-27 Flanker with one of Russia's top airmen, Gen Alexander Kharchevsky, the Honored Pilot of Russia, and went to Grozny in pilot's uniform to honor a Russian victory, according to the Kremlin.

Claims that Putin was not as popular as seen in polls before the election day when he highlighted the Chechnya conflict. It paid off, and Vladimir Putin's gutsy move clinched support.

Dogfight Challenge Gets Watered Down

Based in the US, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) last February 6 tried to lessen the PR impact on the waning Zelensky appeal. ISW alleged that Prigozhin's group's decimation of UAF forces is not enough to sway positive, the Kyiv leader could be seen as weak, cites Understanding War.

A western study is muddling the challenge of pushing Russian nationalist military bloggers who noted that the stunt is a bad sign. A western viewpoint that says Wagner's are war profiteers.

Another media narrative is that Prigozhin is losing standing in Putin's eyes, even as his skill in trolling opponents has claimed. But Pro-Wagners bloggers say the mercenary boss has high standing, not the opposite.

Wagner Group is an elite mercenary force defeating the best US and NATO specialists worldwide. Due to the success of the Wagner group, which has gotten support in tech and other military matters as a shadow group of the Kremlin, the Ukrainian parliament has called them criminals. The mercenary company was started in 2014 and has used whatever technical and technological resources it has. Supporting aims in Syria, Libya, Sudan, and Mali to edge out US and NATO specialists in operations.

Putin's Chef 'Prigozhin' rose to prominence in Ukraine and revealed himself as the mercenary commander of the group. Scuttlebutt by the western media and ISW says a rift between the Wagner and Kremlin exists, even enlistment of inmates. The Russian MoD is supposed to sideline the Wagnerians in the offensives against the AFU.

Wagner boss Prigozhin is confident that Wagner and Russian forces will win, prompting the challenge to Zelensky in a take-all dogfight for Bakhmut riding a MiG-29. It is a media stunt remarked by ISW and western media.

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Tech, Military