Playing the victim
PMC Wagner was still deprived of ammunition as of 10 May. At the same time, instead of fulfilling his promise and starting to withdraw his men from their positions in Bakhmut, Prigozhin continues to play the victim and says that deceitful leaders of the Defence Ministry still deprive him of the necessary ammo. He also describes the horrible repercussions that will surely follow if they abandon the positions. He often gets off the track, but the general idea is clear:
“We received a combat order which literally said [the following]. First: in case we leave our positions, it will be considered treason. If we receive no ammo, we shall leave our positions and pose the following question: who’s the high traitor here? A Defence Ministry unit fled one of the PMC flanks. Abandoning their positions, everyone made a run for it, laying bare a strip of front line almost two kilometres wide and about 500 metres deep. The 72th brigade pissed away three square kilometres today, and about 500 of my men were killed there. It’s because the area used to be a strategic foothold.”
Next up, Prigozhin said that the head of Russia’s General Staff himself reduced the ammo supplies for PMC Wagner tenfold. He predicted the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive, praised Russian army general Sergey Surovikin who was appointed to coordinate the efforts of the General Staff and PMC Wagner, called the Ministry of Defence “the Ministry of machinations”, promised not to leave the positions in Bakhmut, congratulated his viewers on Victory Day, and said no one should be showing off (profanities replaced) in the Red Square.
What does all this tough-guy-ism mean when it comes from a person who has no formal status in the Russian military?
Prigozhin’s last battle
Since the Russian Ministry of Defence rarely deigns to respond to Yevgeny Prigozhin, his former ally Ramzan Kadyrov recently took the side of the authorities in the public fray with the head of PMC Wagner.