Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, has announced that his troops will withdraw from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut by Wednesday, May 10, 2023, due to ammunition shortages.
In recent months, the Russian government has been trying to capture the city, despite its questionable strategic value. Prigozhin posted a video in which he walked among dead fighters’ bodies and asked defense officials for more supplies. He pinned the decision squarely on the Russian defense ministry, criticizing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The Kremlin declined to comment on the video.
The battle for Bakhmut has dragged on for months and is thought to have claimed thousands of lives. Ukraine decided to defend the city at all costs to focus Russian military resources on one place of relatively little significance.
US-based military analyst Rob Lee argues that Wagner’s latest complaint of shortages likely reflects Russia’s defense ministry rationing ammunition ahead of Ukraine’s long-anticipated counter-offensive.
Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65493008