There is a serious risk that the PMC Wagner in Bakhmut will be surrounded as a result of the collapse of the flanks, which are already “cracking and failing”, and in the absence of ammunition, the meat grinder in Bakhmut will work in the direction opposite: the Armed Forces of Ukraine will crush the Wagnerians, the founder of the PMC, a businessman, told Russian media Yevgeny Prigozhin in response to a request for a description of the situation with the presence of the company’s fighters in Bakhmut (Artemovsk (Bakhmut) ) and the issuance of ammunition for them.
According to Prigozhin, Bakhmut is of no strategic importance and “was needed to develop offensive potential, grind the enemy’s manpower and allow the Russian army to mobilize after the failures and the withdrawal of the RF armed forces from Kharkiv, Kherson and other regions. ”
However, the businessman notes, due to fear of internal competition, PMC “Wagner” began to “dry up” in terms of personnel, weapons and ammunition, artificially reducing combat potential.
“The effectiveness of the Bakhmut meat grinder decreased in April-May 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine gathered for a counteroffensive. Due to the reduction in the personnel of PMC, “Wagner” was forced to transfer the flanks to the army. There is a serious risk that the PMC Wagner at Bakhmut will be surrounded following the failure of the flanks. The flanks are already cracking and collapsing. In the absence of ammunition, the “meat grinder” will work in the opposite direction: the Armed Forces of Ukraine will destroy the PMC Wagner,” Prigozhin warned.
He explained that he needed ammunition to save the lives of the fighters and “to put pressure” on Bakhmut, in which there remained about 5% of the territories occupied by the enemy, and in the rest of the city he did not there are only Wagner PMC units. “Apart from Bakhmut, there is only the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, PMC Wagner is not there,” Prigozhin added.
The businessman recalled that the Wagner PMC planned to leave Bakhmut to save the lives of fighters and minimize senseless casualties, since the remnants of ammunition were only enough until the end of the day on May 9, 2023 , but the country’s top management was instructed by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to provide the company with everything necessary.
“On the night of May 6-7, 2023, a combat order was issued with the promise to donate ammunition to Wagner PMC.
During the day of May 8-9, 2023, the required amount of ammunition was not issued. Until now, ammunition was filtered to a minimum.
PMC Wagner continues its offensive in Bakhmut and is waiting for a decision on the issue of ammunition and weapons in the required quantity,” Prigozhin described the development of the situation in recent days.
Hunger for shellfish at PMC “Wagner”
Earlier on Wednesday, he told Russian media that the PMC continues to advance in Artyomovsk, but is still experiencing a shortage of shells. “After my appeals, the country’s leaders ordered the Ministry of Defense to consider all our applications. Given the bureaucracy, unfortunately, this has been done for an extremely long time. The information campaigns against me have been going on for many years , it’s just that the customers are constantly changing: from Navalny to the Americans, ”shared the businessman.
On May 5, Prigozhin said that on May 10, the PMC Wagner would leave its combat positions in Bakhmut, because the Ministry of Defense had not provided the fighters with the required amount of ammunition and would move to rear camps in order to not to suffer senseless losses. On the same day, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced that the Ahmad battalion was ready to replace the Wagner PMC units and invited its fighters to remain in their positions, promising to offer them better conditions.
On May 7, Prigozhin said he had received an order that Wagner PMC fighters would receive “as much as necessary” ammunition and weapons to continue fighting.
On May 9, the founder of Wagner PMC assured that the company’s divisions will not yet leave Artemovsk (Bakhmut), although they have received no more than 10% of the requested amount of ammunition. “We were promised the seven they would give us. <…> We have simply been brazenly deceived,” he claims.
The city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) (Bakhmut) is located 89 km northeast of Donetsk. Fighting in its suburbs began in August 2022, since October this direction has been the hottest point of the conflict. As Russian media writes, Bakhmut plays a key role in supplying the Ukrainian army, taking control of the city will give Russian troops a new springboard for the offensive on Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
On April 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation in Bakhmut remained difficult for the Ukrainian military, but that the Ukrainian armed forces had no intention of retreating. May 4 Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Russian assault troops have taken control of two blocks west of the city.
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