On Thursday, the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin, through his press service, announced that the shipment of ammunition for his units has begun. Earlier, Prigozhin accused Russian military leaders of deliberately underdelivering ammunition to their fighters. The Ministry of Defense denied this information. RTVI tells what we know about the conflict and what military correspondents say about it.
Hunger for shellfish in PMCs
Artillerymen and military doctors recorded a video message on February 17 in which they spoke of the lack of arms and ammunition at the front, because of which “hundreds” of soldiers are said to be dying. Video appeared in the telegram channel “Wagner unloading”. The authors of the video said that the losses could have been half as great, “if the military officials had provided us with weapons, ammunition and everything we need in time”. The specific units that faced shell starvation are not named in the video, the fighters in the video do not have identifying chevrons, but they claim to be from the Wagner PMC.
Later, a voice message appeared on the telegram channel of the press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin, in which, presumably, the businessman himself confirmed the lack of ammunition among his people. He pointed out that “generals, officers help with all their might, sometimes they violate military laws in order to give us extra ammunition.”
“The Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense distribute orders right and left, which say that the PMC Wagner must not only not give ammunition, but also not help by air transport. Now news has come in that they have crossed out the receipt for the sapper shovels so the guys can dig. There is direct opposition, which is called nothing more than an attempt to destroy Wagner’s PMC. It can be equated to betrayal,” the message read.
The Ministry of Defense denied claims that the Wagner PMC lacked shells. “All statements purportedly made on behalf of assault units about lack of ammunition are absolutely false,” the department said.
Sergei Bobylev / TASS
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, from February 18 to 20, the assault detachments received 1,660 rockets for multiple rocket launcher systems, 10,171 ammunition for large-caliber guns and mortars, and 980 ammunition for tanks.
Yevgeny Prigozhin in an interview with military commissar Vladlen Tatarsky declared that on the morning of February 22 “no action was taken to distribute ammunition”.
He published a photograph of PMC soldiers who died “due to the so-called shortage of shells”, along with a list showing the amount of ammunition required for one day and 10 days and handwritten notes on the number of shells which they promised to issue in reality. He said that Wagner “does not receive 80% of the ammunition needed for combat missions”.
However, on the morning of February 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin announced the shipment of ammunition for his units. begin.
“Today at 6 a.m. they reported that the ammunition shipment was starting. Most likely the train started to move. So far on paper, but, as we were told, the main documents have already been signed,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying by his press service.
The problem is not that the PMCs stopped receiving ammunition, but that they started receiving it like everyone else. Frankly, we envied the Wagners in a good way when they had their own front-line aviation, at the daily rate of two Iskanders and one Caliber, when they signed requests for two and a half thousand ATGMs (guided missiles antitanks – ed. .) for training practice, when convicts were dragged to them from all over the country … They envied, but they understood that not everyone would receive such a supply – and he would give the same result as them. The result is not only the number of …
Now the providers have become like everyone else, and the most depressing thing is not that they were specifically lowered to general standards, but that these general standards do not allow them to give the desired result.
Under the same Ugledar, before the offensive, the army reduced daily consumption to a minimum in order to accumulate a supply at least on the first day of the offensive. This was obviously not enough to suppress the enemy’s resistance, and the consequences were not long in coming.
Yuri Kotenok, war correspondent
The channels publish the number of requests for ammunition from the PMC Wagner in the direction of Bakhmut to the Russian military leadership. The name of the ammunition is hidden, but even from the torn numbers it is clear that the shortage is colossal, in the vast majority – two, three, four times, or even more. For some types – zeros. We understand how.
The reality is that the most combat-ready assault units, not only in Russia, but around the world, receive less of what they hit the enemy with during an assault. This is how the offensive “dry up”. Thus, the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief are frustrated.
“Skif” Khodakovsky was right when he recalled that the “Wagners” simply clashed with how the rest was provided, which is clear from the results of the attack on Ugledar, where, due to a lack of ammunition, the advance of our forces bogged down.
In wartime, everything is simple – if you don’t suppress the enemy’s fire points, he will suppress you. Therefore, they lay down again, buried their fins in the ground. Those who did. The one who didn’t have time will be buried later.
<...> Only a few, instead of wallowing in *** [нечистотах] political intrigue, began to use all their resources to achieve the main thing – victory. I’m talking about those politicians who really live in the NWO, and often in the NWO. In addition to them, people like Prigogine, for example, are still working at the front. Who does not seem to be a politician, or a civil servant, or a security officer – a businessman for special and delicate tasks. Yes, a person who is contradictory in many ways, but truly rooted for the outcome and, perhaps most importantly, for the Russian soldier.
PA
That is why the situation with the offer of PMC Wagner, or rather its absence (as Prigozhin himself notes in quite neat form) looks at least provocative. The ultimate goal of this provocation is not entirely clear, nor am I sure that the people who have brought it to such heat are fully aware of the dangerousness of setting a precedent. I would like to believe that today’s unambiguous signal from the President will be taken correctly and as soon as possible. Otherwise, I don’t know what to think…
Public bickering continues between the Department of Defense and PMC Wagner. The day before, the Ministry of Defense announced that it was responding to all requests from the Company for the supply of ammunition. By tradition, without mentioning his name. Prigozhin denied this information, saying that 80% of PMC requests are not met.
In general, shells are no longer enough for everyone. But only “musicians” have such an active promotion, the inertia of which must be supported by the necessary amount of artillery and aviation work.
At the same time, Artemovsk (Bakhmut) is not something separate. The situation along the entire line of contact depends on what happens there. I will just recall the president’s remarks yesterday: “I would like to emphasize that all interministerial contradictions, formalities, insults, omissions, other nonsense must be removed. Everything for the cause, everything for the result – everything must be aimed at this. Absurd words, of course, during the war, but you have to sit down at the same table and negotiate.
<...> The situation in which the carts[рам]There was a flash mob #Give the Shells to the Wagners, bad. And even the fact that the discussion on the topic of supplying ammunition for the structure that is successfully operating in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) region has passed into the public domain suggests that the commander of this structure, an influential person in every way, has exhausted the apparatus-bureaucratic possibilities.
In a situation where the SVO has become a popular operation, such issues need to be resolved quickly and quietly. And I assumed that a year of the hardest fights, of successes and defeats, of mistakes and conclusions would change the situation. But no.
We work with paratroopers, motorized riflemen, special forces, we work with Wagners. These are all our fighters, and it does not matter in which department they receive a salary. Victory is important. And here we return to the healthy atmosphere of combat work.
According to the scale, trends often do not change. I’m not trying to pit the PMCs against the military. I again draw attention to the absurd situation in which the assault units run out of ammunition, which absolutely cannot be stopped. If such a situation had developed in an army formation, it would have been the same nonsense. On the one hand, the task is to go on the offensive, on the other hand, the offensive is not equipped with ammunition.
