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The leader of the Wagner mercenary group has brought escalating tensions with the Kremlin military leadership dramatically into the open after he recorded an expletive-ridden video in a field littered with corpses and blamed Russia’s top defence chiefs for the losses.
“These are Wagner lads who died today. The blood is still fresh,” Yevgeny Prigozhin says in the extraordinary clip, pointing to roughly three-dozen bodies that he says are those of the Wagner fighters. “They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices.”
In a separate message on Friday morning, Prigozhin said Wagner troops would leave the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week over what he said was the lack of ammunition for his troops.
In the two-minute first clip, Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business hosted dinners attended by the Russian president, screams as he calls out the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the Russian armed forces, Gen Valery Gerasimov over military supplies.
“Shoigu, Gerasimov, where the fuck is our ammunition?” he shouts, then continues to unleash personal insults directed at Shoigu, a longtime ally of Putin. “You scum sit there in your expensive clubs. Your kids are all getting off on life, recording their little YouTube videos,” Prigozhin says, referring to Shoigu’s son-in-law Alexey Stolyarov, a popular fitness blogger.
Wagner has played a key role in the months-long assault on Bakhmut, a high-profile battlefield with limited strategic value. To bolster its ranks, Wagner has recruited tens of thousands of prisoners who fight for the group in exchange for their freedom.
Prigozhin has previously feuded with Russia’s top brass over military tactics, accusing the country’s military leaders of “high treason” for not providing his group with ammunition. He recently threatened to leave Bakhmut but ended up staying.
Still, observers say the latest tirade marks an unusual level of infighting in Russia and comes at a sensitive time when the Kremlin is trying to spread a message of stability and unity in the face of a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“We have been used to a lot from Prigozhin, but this is certainly an escalation,” said a former defence official who has worked closely with him.
The former official, who asked for anonymity, said that Prigozhin’s threat to leave Bakhmut was clearly part of a “blackmailing campaign” to get more ammunition for Wagner.
“He always pushes to get what he wants. It is unclear if this latest gamble will pay off,” they said.
In the second video message addressed to Putin and the ministry of defence, Prigozhin says he is pulling out of Bakhmut on 10 May “because in the absence of ammunition, they’re doomed to perish senselessly”.
In a third video published by Prigozhin later on Friday, he continues his accusations, blaming Shoigu and Gerasimov for the deaths and injuries of “tens of thousands of Russian soldiers”.
“I will make sure they will bear responsibility for it,” the warlord says.
The Kremlin said it was aware of Prigozhin’s message but declined to comment further.
The defence ministry did not directly respond to Prigozhin’s accusations, but on Friday Shoigu instructed a senior defence official to ensure the “continuous supply of troops with all the necessary weapons and military equipment”.
Ukraine dismissed Prigozhin’s claims that Wagner was planning to abandon Bakhmut.
Anna Malyar, the country’s deputy defence minister, said Russia was aiming to capture Bakhmut by 9 May, the day when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Malyar added that Wagner was pulling in troops to Bakhmut from “all directions” to achieve this goal. Ukraine’s military intelligence said Prigozhin’s statements illustrated the ongoing state of the conflict between him and the Russian defence ministry. “The confrontation continues,” spokesperson Andriy Yusov said.
Prigozhin has earned a reputation as the cruellest commander among those leading Russia’s grim invasion. In conversations with the Guardian, former Wagner soldiers have previously admitted committing war crimes in Ukraine.
According to US estimates, more than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in fighting in Ukraine since December, with half of the dead being Wagner mercenaries.
Prigozhin last week 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. Military experts have said that Russia appears to be rationing its shells after 14 months of heavy fighting with Ukraine.
“Wagner has long had a significant artillery advantage in Bakhmut and received preferential support,” said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.
“The ministry of defence is likely now rationing ammunition before Ukraine’s counteroffensive. The ministry has to defend the whole front but Prigozhin only cares about taking Bakhmut,” Lee added.
English (US)