Wagner Head Claims Continued Ammunition Shortage Despite Promises
The leader of Russia’s Wagner private military contractor said on Wednesday that its mercenaries fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut still faced ammunition shortages, despite promises from the Russian defense ministry to supply more ammunition.
In a statement released on May 10, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he had been told that he and his mercenaries would be considered to have committed “treason against the motherland” should they retreat. “(But) there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and be the ones asking who is really betraying the motherland. Apparently, the one (betraying Russia) is the person who signed it (the order to supply too little ammunition)”.
Prigozhin claimed that he and his fighters had been deceived, having only received ten percent of the ammunition promised following his threat to withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut on May 5. He accused General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, of having personally ordered the reduction. However, Wagner forces would remain in Bakhmut “for a few more days” to see if the promises of ammunition supplies were kept, failing which they would depart the city.
Prighozin had walked back a threat to withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut by May 10 over the weekend, following promises from the Russian military to supply them with adequate ammunition. The threat to withdraw had been made following the release of a message from the Wagner chief on May 4, where he personally blamed Gerasimov and Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu for the deaths of his mercenaries in a profanity-laced video.
Wagner has sought to portray itself as at the forefront of Russian efforts to capture Bakhmut, with Prighozin claiming that Wagner fighters have captured 95% of the city. The advances have come at a significant cost in Russian casualties, with Wagner resorting to recruiting Russian convicts to replace losses among its more experienced fighters, offering convicts pardons should they survive.