The head of the Russian mercenary group says Bakhmut’s position is at risk with no promised ammunition

The head of Russia’s mercenary force Wagner has warned that Russia’s position around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is in danger unless its troops receive ammunition, the latest sign of tension between the Kremlin and the head of the private militia.

Ukrainian military officials and analysts also reported that the leaders of the Russian 155th Brigade fighting near the town of Vuhledar, south of Bakhmut, were resisting orders to attack after taking heavy losses trying to capture it.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces struck a command center of the Ukrainian Azov regiment in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia. The ministry did not provide details of the attack.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the Russian front lines near Bakhmut could collapse if his forces did not receive the promised munitions from Moscow in February.

“For now, we are trying to find out the reason: whether it is just common bureaucracy or a betrayal,” Prigozhin said on Sunday, referring to the shortage of ammunition, in his Telegram channel news service.

The mercenary leader regularly criticizes Russian defense officials and top generals. Last month, he accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and others of “treason” for refusing stockpiles of ammunition to his men.

In a nearly four-minute video posted on the Wagner Orchestra’s Telegram channel on Saturday, Prigozhin said his troops are worried the government might want to view them as possible scapegoats if Russia loses the war.

“If Wagner now withdraws from Bakhmut, the whole front will collapse,” Prigozhin said. “The situation will not be pleasant for all military formations that protect Russian interests.”

A Russian victory at Bakhmut, with a prewar population of about 70,000, would give the country its first major victory in a costly winter offensive (in the northern hemisphere) after drawing up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year. Russia says it would be a push to complete the capture of the Donbass industrial region, one of its most important targets.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, commander of Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut, said there was no order to withdraw and that “the defense is holding up” in difficult conditions.

“The situation in and around Bakhmut is hellish, as well as on the entire Eastern Front,” Nazarenko said in a video posted to Telegram.

Ukraine’s military said early Monday that its forces had repulsed 95 Russian attacks in the Bakhmut area the previous day.

Source: Terra

Rose

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