Yevhen Prigozhin, the owner of the Russian private military company "Wagner", recognized as a criminal organization in the world, recorded a statement in which he stated that the Wagnerites would hand over their positions near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region to units of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The video was published by Prigozhin's press service on May 5.
The statement says that back in March 2022, the Wagnerites themselves chose the direction of their offensive. However, after a series of failures in various parts of the front, according to Prigozhin, on October 8, together with Army General Surovikin, a decision was made to conduct the "Bakhmut Meat Grinder" operation.
According to Prigozhin, this operation showed "its high efficiency." However, later, according to him, units of the "Wagner" PMC "came into disfavor with envious pro-war bureaucrats." He accused the official military command of the Russian Federation of creating an artificial shortage of ammunition and personnel.
"We were supposed to take Bakhmut by May 9, 2023, but knowing this, since May 1, the wartime bureaucrats practically cut us off from any artillery ammunition," Prigozhin said.
According to him, in the units of the regular Russian army, which are supposed to cover the flanks of the Wagnerites, the named number of troops is significantly different from the real one - "instead of tens of thousands - dozens and rarely hundreds of fighters."
Prigozhin said that the offensive resources of the "Wagner" PMC ran out at the beginning of April, and the defense forces of Ukraine outnumbered them by five times. He noted that, due to the lack of ammunition, the losses of the Wagnerites are increasing "in geometric progression."
According to him, the "Wagner" commanders' council decided to hold positions in Bakhmut until May 10. Prigozhin appealed to the military command of the Russian Federation with a statement that after that "Wagner" would hand over its positions to regular units, and he would withdraw from Bakhmut. He noted that no one responded to his appeal, so he appeals openly.
Intense fighting in the Bakhmut area began in July 2022 and continues to this day. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that the Russian Federation threw the most prepared units of regular troops and Wagner soldiers to capture Bakhmut, most of the occupying artillery was concentrated in this direction.
At the beginning of April, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar stated that the situation around Bakhmut remains very tense and the Russian occupiers are not stopped even by "incomparably high losses". On April 14, she said that the occupiers shell Bakhmut more than 500 times and conduct up to 50 assaults per day in this direction. Malyar noted that the elite units of the Russian army suffered serious losses near Bakhmut.
On April 14, the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain, with reference to British intelligence, reported that the occupiers were using Airborne Forces units near Bakhmut, and Russian attacks had intensified as a result of improved interaction between the "Wagner" PMK and the paratroopers.
