Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, threatens the Russian Army and the Kremlin, with the withdrawal of his troops from Bahmut due to the fact that he does not receive the necessary ammunition to support the attacks against the town, but also to be able to create a defense system that is sufficient efficient.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is not the first to launch attacks against the Russian Army due to the situation on the front, but as in the past, it is unlikely to be about anything really serious, and this is because many of these "disputes" are created to fool the western world.
"The financier of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, threatened to withdraw the Wagner forces from Bakhmut if the Russian military command failed to provide more ammunition to the Wagner mercenaries.
Prigozhin said in an interview with a Kremlin-affiliated milblogger on April 29 that the Wagner mercenaries would continue to fight in Bakhmut, but would have to "retreat in an organized manner or stay and die" if the situation did not improve immediate.
Prigozhin stated that Wagner needed about 80.000 shells per day – the previous shell allocation before the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD)'s apparent efforts to curtail Wagner's influence.
Prigozhin added that Wagner is receiving only 800 of the 4.000 shells a day it currently requests. Prigozhin claimed that Wagner and the deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Army General Sergei Surovikin, devised a plan to "grind" Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, which deprived Ukraine of its initiative on the battlefield.
Prigozhin's mention of Surovikin is likely an attempt to publicly align himself with Surovikin, as Russian President Vladimir Putin's favor moves away from the network of Russian Army Chief General Valery Gerasimov.
Prigozhin is likely trying to regain access to more munitions as Putin is once again reshuffling the Russian military leadership in a way that may favor Prigozhin."
#Russian Occupation Update:
Russian occupation authorities and border zone officials have expanded security measures and filtration efforts likely out of concern for increased partisan activity in support of a potential #Ukrainian counteroffensives. https://t.co/4q7O0jEEBC https://t.co/xRCvU3UZeS
- ISW (@TheStudyofWar) April 30, 2023
