Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group, said he was promised his fighters would get as much ammunition and weapons as needed to continue fighting in Bakhmut.
The assurance from Moscow came after Prigozhin said his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut on May 10 over a lack of support. The threat to quit the battle came after Prigozhin posted a video to Telegram where he slammed Russia’s military leadership and showed dozens of corpses of Wagner fighters.
According to RT, in a voice note posted on Telegram on Sunday, Prigozhin said he received “a military instruction … in which we were promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue our activities.”
Prigozhin said Gen. Sergey Surovikin, who led Russia’s war from October to January, has been coordinating between Wagner and the Russian military. “This is the only man with the star of an army general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said of Surovikin. “No other army general is reasonable.”
Wagner has been doing much of the fighting in Bakhmut, and Prigozhin has been increasingly critical of Russia’s military leadership as his force has taken heavy losses. Russia controls the vast majority of Bakhmut, but Ukrainian forces are still holding out on the western edges of the city.
Ukrainian soldiers have also complained about the lack of support from their military leadership. Ukrainians fighting on the frontlines have said fresh recruits were being poured into the brutal battle of Bakhmut, which has become known as the meat grinder, with little training and ammunition.
Prigozhin’s videos are an interesting glimpse into the failure of Putin’s war of aggression. The video where he says he is standing amidst the bodies of fallen Russian soldiers confirms that Wagner has taken heavy casualties in Bathmut. His complaints about ammunition is typical of a frustrated warlord trying to shift the blame for Wagner’s failure. But the most interesting part was his admission that the war was going badly for Russia when Wagner was asked to join in March 2022. This tacitly confirms that the massive march on Kiev was not a feint, but a debacle for Russia.
Despite all odds, the Ukrainian army is still holding up. But even if Russia eventually defeats the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian resistance will eventually drive the Russians out of Ukraine. The best Putin can hope for if the Russians drive the Ukrainian army underground is a permanent low intensity war, like the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. I am hoping China can explain the facts of life to Putin or his successor.
Agree. There is nothing that Putin can do conventionally to turn this failed SMO around.
And absolutely not a feint, the Kyiv failed invasion was just that. You may remember the many Russian vehicles destroyed with military parade dresses inside. The SMO was supposed to have Russian soldiers marching beautifully in full regalia through Maidan.
“You may remember the many Russian vehicles destroyed with military parade dresses inside.”
Link?
I second your request for a link. That rumor’s been around for quite some time, but I’ve never seen any evidence for it.
See above
It would be cool if those videos could be found and their authenticity confirmed.
“The New York Times reports that Ukrainian officials said” isn’t evidence of anything more than Ukrainian officials saying something (ditto “RT reports that Russian officials said”).
I agree. A link would be good. But even if not confirmed, the attack was not a feint. It was a major engagement. If it was a feint, the Russians would have moved into defensive positions instead of storming into Kyiv’s suburbs and taking heavy casualties.
The Russians reported 1,381 killed in the first month of fighting which was mostly around Kyiv.
Did I say anything about a feint? Are you on auto pilot?
Not autopilot. just pointing out that even if the trope about dress uniforms stashed in tanks was hype, the orcs still got their asses kicked in the suburbs of Kyiv. If you remember the Russian MoD and the bloggers were proclaiming everything was “proceeding according to plan” a year ago. Same as McNamara in the first years of Vietnam.
And, again, why are you telling me this? I asked Don about the parade dress uniforms found in Russian vehicles. Nothing else.
So I expanded my reply. Is that a problem?
Yes, it is a problem. It’s like you’re lecturing me.
I am agreeing with you that Don Julio’s post needed further citation. I am also agreeing with Don Julio’s point that the failed Kyiv assault was no feint. No lecture intended.
It always struck me as likely a feint, with the intention of fixing Ukrainian troops in place defending Kyiv so they couldn’t be used in the east.
I was saying that at the time, when the pro-war types were crowing that Kyiv would be taken within a week. Then within a month. Then by the end of the summer. After which they finally agreed that it must have been a feint, since it’s impossible for anything to happen that Putin hasn’t anticipated, and indeed plans exactly as it eventually unfolds.
It was no feint. The trope about Russian officers packing their dress uniforms may be unsubstantiated. But the pictures of the destroyed and abandoned Russian tanks, the bodies at Bucha, and the Russian admission of 1,400 casualties in the first month are evidence of a ferocious battle around Kyiv that Russia apparently did not anticipate.
With respect to Ukraine Russian chauvinism always trumps Russian intelligence. Putin is no exception. He can’t conceive of a Ukraine that isn’t ruled by Russia. He probably truly expected the Russians to be welcomed by many Ukrainians and accepted by the rest.
I try to discount the propaganda on both sides. Primarily I look at the map at the calendar. I also look at the pictures.
As you have pointed out, Russia’s window of opportunity for a victory closed many months ago. China understands asymmetric war because Mao Tse Tung literally wrote the book on it. But will China choose loyalty to an ally over adherence to the principles that have guided its foreign policy for 70 years and led to China’s ascendancy among thenationsof the global south?
When Russian tanks and armored vehicles entered Kyiv and were only 4 miles from reaching the Kyiv Presidential Palace, it got ambushed and many of the tanks and APCs were destroyed and abandoned, shortly after, Ukrainian soldiers went through these vehicles to collect left behind weapons and ammunitions. They noticed that the storage areas had very little amount of ammunition and the rest used as storage for their dress uniforms with boots and medals. I remember watching couple of these videos on telegram but cannot find them, will keep on searching.
Following this event, some Ukrainian Defense officials reported it.
Reports:
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-said-found-russian-parade-uniforms-left-behind-in-kyiv-2022-4
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russians-planned-a-victory-parade-in-kyivbut-dumped-their-formal-attire-as-they-fled
These reports where later confirmed when the New York Times obtained the Russian Invasion Plans.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/16/world/europe/russia-putin-war-failures-ukraine.html#:~:text=Russian%20invasion%20plans%2C%20obtained%20by,in%20the%20Ukrainian%20capital%2C%20Kyiv.
Reference: Paragraph above Photo of dead Russia on snow next to disabled tank.
“Russian invasion plans, obtained by The New York Times, show that the military expected to sprint hundreds of miles across Ukraine and triumph within days. Officers were told to pack their dress uniforms and medals in anticipation of military parades in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.”
Ukrainian officials and the NYT have no credibility. You need more than that.
One video of dead soldiers is enough to convince you putin is “failing”? You do realize there are just as many videos of Ukrainian dead, right?
Nobody is winning. The war has been at a stalemate for months, and will still be at a stalemate in many more month.
In an asymmetric war of national resistance the invader needs to conquer, occupy and pacify territory to previal. The defender needs to survive and continue to resist to prevail. A stalmate after 14 months means that Russia has lost. Asymmetric wars of national resistance (e.g., Vietnam, Afghanistan, Algeria) are determined by hearts and minds, not force of arms. The Russian window of opportunity to prove they were liberators rather than conquerors has closed. The Russians may still succeed in defeating the Ukrainian army. But that will only prolong the war. The thing about an asymmetric war of national resistance is that the harder the occupier fights it, the stronger the resistance becomes. The United States won every battle in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. But in the end the national resistance inevitably prevailed. Like Nixon, Bush and Obama, Putin underestimated the collective will of the Ukrainian people to resist.
Your comment would be insightful if Ukraine were a monolith but it isn’t. Russia doesn’t need to quell local rebellions because the Donbas was already in open rebellion against Kiev. The area Russia has captured are the areas that didn’t want to be Ukrainian anyway.
Only the war profiteers are winning, they always do.
“But even if Russia eventually defeats the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian resistance will eventually drive the Russians out of Ukraine”
Even the parts that are a majority of ethnic Russians? You keep talking about this as if the entirety of Ukraine is of one against Russia. There aren’t “round eyes” from the other side of the planet.
And you and others continually seem to assume that “ethnic Russians” are automatically aligned with the current Russian regime. Not everyone chooses political loyalties based on ethnicity.
I would assume that the fact that there are so many ethnic Russians in Ukraine that it would make it different than Vietnam or Afghanistan since those places were pretty devoid of ethnic Americans. And that is what Skywalker keeps trying to compare this war in Ukraine with.
Ethnic Russians account for about 17% of Ukrainians including Crimea (about 65%) and Donbas (less than 40%). Outside of those areas Russians account between 0% and 10% of most oblasts. As I indicated in my earlier post many ethnic Russian Ukrainians are against the invasion.
Right. Making it completely different from Vietnam or Afghanistan. There was no “Crimea” in either place.
There should be internationally supervised plebiscites in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhantsk after the refugees have an opportunity to return. I expect the Russians will win inCrimea.But the descendants of the Tatars who were deported by Stalin in 1944 should have a say over what happens with Crimea and maybe some reparations.
That should not be an issue, other nations have it too. Switzerland has German, Italian and French speaking citizens, Canada has French speaking citizens too, where there is a will there is a way.
But the neo-Nazis used it as a pretense to provoke a civil war at home and conflict with Russia, expecting NATO to serve their interests and bail them out, how stupid and corrupt that bunch is.
There are lots of ethnic Irish people in the Boston area.
Some of them support the Provisional IRA’s efforts to eject the British from the Six Counties, some oppose it, and many just don’t care at all. Nor is it obvious that they would be anything like unanimous in supporting an Irish military invasion of Massachusetts.
And the neocons assume that everyone automatically hates Russia the way they do.
The majority of Ukrainians voted for Zelensky because he promised peace. But the moment the election was over, he broke his promise.
Zelenskyy didn’t invade another country.
He continued his predecessor’s invasions/occupations of two other countries (the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics).
Do you consider DPR & LPR countries or Ukrainian oblasts with separatist movements? It would be interesting the see the results of a genuine plebiscite under international supervision after the refugees have an opportunity to return. Personally, I suspect there is more support for Ukraine and less support for Russia in the Donbas than Putin or his acolytes admit.
They ceased to be Ukrainian oblasts when they declared independence and formed their own states. Any genuine plebiscite would include the options of retaining their independence or seeking affiliation with some other state (which could include the one they are no longer part of).
Who is “they” and who do “they” represent?
Reasonable people can disagree over whether “they” speak for the majority of the Donbas or a disgruntled clique.
“They” have effectively made a point that some people in Donbas want to be independent from Ukraine. The partisans in Donbas are making the point that not everyone agrees on independence. I would rather see the parties settle the question by a genuine plebiscite than by force of arms.
True, NATO invaded Ukraine first. The nation lost its sovereignty the day after the regime change, funded and organized by the USA. Zelensky is a well paid traitor of his country, the clown likes to walk around in some military costume demanding money from the NATO nations. He is a man without character and integrity. The Obama/Biden gang picked him off the street to serve US interests.
Ukrainians had the option to be neutral and prosper, the criminal neo-Nazis turned it down, now the country is in ruins and millions have fled the country.
A lot of ethnic Russians are Ukrainian patriots. Some people commenting on this site are parroting a lot of ignorant and untrue Russian propaganda. They incorrectly assume that ethnic Russian Ukrainians automatically want to be part of Russia. For example, the Ukrainian Hasidic community for centuries has regarded themselves as Russian. Following the invasion, the Hasidic sages instructed their people to learn Ukrainian and are opposing the invasion. So yeah, even in Mariupol, people are resisting Russian conscription. Despite Zelenskyy’s idiotic attacks on orthodox clergy, many Ukrainian Orthodox are fighting in the Ukrainian resistance and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared its independence from the Moscow Patriarchy after the Moscow Church supported Putin’s war and Partiarch Kirill proclaimed Putin to be a savior sent by God to restore Russian greatness. Even in the so-called annexed territories, including Crimea, the Russian Orthodox Church is a tiny presence. The people worship under the umbrella of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church although some parishes have defected to the Constantinople based Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
So don’t believe the hype. Ukrainians, including many ethnic Russians, are fighting back against Putin’s invasion.
The Minsk agreements were a big step in the right direction. There was only one problem, which was the USA, the US DID NOT SUPPORT Minsk from the start, they picked the most extreme neo-Nazis to replace the elected government to serve US interests. The US interference started way back when Clinton broke national agreements and expanded NATO to the Russian borders. Immediately after regime change NATO took over in Kiev, Zelensky is being paid to serve Ukrainian young men on a silver platter to Biden. NATO is a criminal out-fit since the beginning.
I guess it’s a matter of propaganda sources we choose to use.
The Minsk agreement would have granted the Russian speaking people autonomy, the right to speak their language and practice their culture, not much to ask. It has been done in other nations without problems, see Switzerland.
The neocons decided long ago, if they can’t win there will be no Ukraine left, they expect the Ukrainians to fight and die till the end and the unconditional surrender.
After all, it is how genocidal war ends. That is what Zelensky and Biden and his neocon idiots stand for, all or nothing.
Some one needs to explain the facts of life to Biden, the bully. He does not know that his bullying makes more enemies and certainly not friends. There will be no NATO left to support a war of aggression against China either. He broke the back of NATO and EU.
So you prefer Ukraine to be raped by US and Blackrock and continue money laundering for corrupt US Corporate Government as the most corrupt nation in earth. NATO is the military arm of the New World Order that plans a planet wide fascist feudal dictatorship for us all.
Be careful what you wish for.
PS I don’t think Russia loses this. They are fighting with hands tied because Putin wants to appear as a reasonable humanitarian to his new alliances with China and BRICS.
He’s taken 90% and now it appears he going to pull out and Checnyian troops will replace him and finish the last bit of fighting in that city?
He is said to be a possible replacement for Putin so perhaps the cut-off has internal politics included among the different reasons (it’s rarely just one or two things behind actions such as this) for his lack of ammo?
He is buying a large part of his supplies himself so perhaps his own failures are being ignored too?
He’s taken 90% and now it appears he going to pull out and Checnyian troops will replace him and finish the last bit of fighting in that city?
He is said to be a possible replacement for Putin so perhaps the cut-off has internal politics included among the different reasons (it’s rarely just one or two things behind actions such as this) for his lack of ammo?
He is buying a large part of his supplies himself so perhaps his own failures are being ignored too?
While Zelenski is applauded in the Hague more and more evidence of Ukrainian war crimes and crimes against humanity are constantly emerging from the testimonies of those who were on the frontlines.
It is well known that the NATO proxy war in Ukraine started with the Nazi/NATO ethnic cleansing campaign in the Donbass. Biden, Obama et al. must go before the Hague for their many many crimes against humanity.
I could not agree more.
(Whisper): psss, Prigozhin wont get any. Probably a bullet to his head by the FSB.
“If the older brother Prigozhin and Wagner should go, then the General Staff will lose an experienced unit, and in their place could then come the little brother Kadyrov and Akhmat” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram on Friday.
Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group
mercenaries by definition fight for the money. the Wagners would probably fight for Ukraine if it paid more. i think that if this was a true “war of aggression” on Russia’s part then it would probably already be over and Putin would be posing for photos with a “mission accomplished” banner behind him. right George?
Prigozhin must be suffering some severe battle fatigue, he needs a break and so do his soldiers. He cares for his people not like Zelensky who gets paid for destroying Ukraine and parading around in his green outfit demanding more money from NATO nations.
Since neither the Ukrainian soldiers or the Russian soldiers are being supplied, maybe that should be a clue to stop fighting.
Moscow has already responded to him and shared they’ll replace his mercanaries with Chechnyian troops if he follows through with his threat of pullout.