Wagner Group boss says he will pull troops out of Bakhmut
The leader of Russia's Wagner Group says he will withdraw his troops from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut by Wednesday, in a row over ammunition.
The leader of Russia's Wagner Group says he will withdraw his troops from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut by Wednesday, in a row over ammunition, BBC reports.
His statement came after he posted a gruesome video of him walking among dead fighters' bodies, asking defence officials for more supplies.
Russia has been trying to capture the city for months, despite its questionable strategic value.
Yevgeny Prigozhin pinned his decision squarely on the defence ministry.
"Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the... ammunition?... They came here as volunteers and die for you to fatten yourselves in your mahogany offices."
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov have often been the focus for Prigozhin's anger.
Prigozhin is a publicity seeker, and his influence has seemingly waned in recent months. He has previously made threats he has not followed through with - subsequently dismissing them as jokes and military humour.
Only last week he told a Russian pro-war blogger that Wagner fighters in Bakhmut were down to their last days of supplies of bullets, and needed thousands of rounds of ammunition.
But if shortages were not tackled then his mercenaries would be forced either to retreat or remain and die, he warned: "Then, no matter what our bureaucrats want, everything else will crumble."
The Kremlin declined to comment on the video as it related to what it calls the "special military operation" in Ukraine.
