PMC Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has contacted representatives of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to hand over positions in Bakhmut starting from 10 May, Prigozhin’s press service reported.
“I am already in contact with his representatives to start transferring positions immediately, so that at midnight on 10 May, exactly at the moment when, according to our calculations, we will fully exhaust our combat potential, our comrades will take our place and continue the assault on Bakhmut”, the press service quotes Prigozhin as saying.
In his view, the Akhmat special forces will “definitely capture” Bakhmut.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Saturday that units of the Akhmat special forces are ready to move into Bakhmut.
“The fighters are ready for action, we are only waiting for an order,” he announced on his Telegram channel, saying that he had already signed a letter to Vladimir Putin on the subject.
According to Kadyrov, Chechen forces “have started to develop their action strategy in this area together with the Russian Defence Ministry”.
Ramzan Kadyrov had previously said that Akhmat fighters may replace Wagner’s troops in Bakhmut. He added that the military would not leave its “well fortified positions” amid reports of an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive, which he called “cheap propaganda”.
On Thursday and Friday, Prigozhin published several videos announcing that he will withdraw Wagner troops from Bakhmut on 10 May unless the Ministry of Defence supplies them with ammunition. According to Prigozhin, as of 1 May the PMC had been receiving only 10% of the ammunition needed.
