- Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin warns of withdrawing troops from Bakhmut amid lack of ammunition
- He noted that they saw a stack of thousands of bodies every day being placed into coffins
- Prigozhin had already written a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu asking for more ammunition
Wagner's boss Yevgeny Prigozhin warned Russia that he would withdraw his forces from Bakhmut over a lack of munitions amid rising casualties.
Ukrainian military authorities said that Russian forces have been unable to cut their supply lines to the front-line city. During an interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, Prigozhin noted that the losses in Bakhmut were five times more than needed due to a lack of artillery ammunition.
Wagner Boss Threatens to Pull Troops from Bakhmut
In the interview, published on Saturday, the Wagner boss said that they saw stacks of thousands of bodies every day that they placed in coffins and sent home. He added that he had already written to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, requesting more ammunition as soon as possible, per Aljazeera.
Prigozhin said that if the Russian government does not address the lack of ammunition, his forces in Bakhmut will be forced to run like "cowardly rats." If such a situation occurs, it would mean that the Russian front line would collapse elsewhere in the region.
Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Institute for the Study of War, released a report saying that Prigozhin revealed that his forces received 800 out of 4,000 shells per day that they previously requested from Moscow's Ministry of Defense.
The Wagner chief also said that the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive would start on May 15. Furthermore, Prigozhin lamented that Russian military troops were not in a rush to prepare for the expected assault.
In the interview, Prigozhin said that he and his forces were patriots and would continue to fight in Bakhmut while they had ammunition. However, he argued that with current supplies, their defense would not last for weeks, but for only days, according to Business Insider.
Significant Shortage of Ammunition
The Wagner boss issued an initial deadline of April 27, saying that Shoigu had 24 hours to reply to his request. With that date having passed, it remains to be seen whether or not the Russian defense minister replied to Prigozhin.
In the brutal 10-month-long battle for the key city of Bakhmut, Wagner's forces were seen as crucial support for the Russian offensive. However, they are now struggling due to the issue Prigozhin said that his troops need 80,000 shells per day to maintain the region's defense.
Ukrainian officials said that they were already finalizing preparations for the long-expected counteroffensive against Russian forces. On Sunday, the governor of Russia's western Bryansk region said that Kyiv shelled a border village, resulting in four dead and two others getting wounded.
On the other hand, the Russian army on Sunday decided to replace its highest-ranking general who was in charge of logistics ahead of the anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, said First Post.
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