Strong outburst has come from Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and close ally of Russian
President Vladimir Putin who is believed to be the founder and financial backer of the
Wagner Group, a private military company (PMC) that has been involved in the conflict in
Ukraine.
Prigozhin who is sometimes called "Putin's chef", because he owns restaurants and catering
companies that provide services for the Kremlin has recently disclosed his views on the state
of the conflict as the Ukrainian spring offensive looms.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes what are the key revelation by the Wagner Group
boss ? Let's get into the details.
Before we go into the actual revelations, it is important to set the context.
Viewers may note in this regard, Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, who is also the top commander of
U.S. forces in Europe.
In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, said, “Over 98% of the combat
vehicles are already there “ pointing to the platforms Western allies promised to deliver
to Kyiv.
Also, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) Gen. Viktor Khorenko visited Bakhmut
a few days ago and acquainted himself with the present state of affairs in the city and
conversed with the soldiers from the SSO units responsible for its defense.
It is evident that a Ukrainian push is coming.
Now let's get into 3 very interesting revelations made by Prigozhin.
According to a translation by Times Radio, Prigohzin whose troops have endured most of
the fighting in Bakhmut asked in a Telegram post,
"What's going on now with the Ukrainian Armed Forces counter-offensive?"
"It's raining today and the last of the rain is forecast for May 2.
Another week will be needed for the winds to dry the ground.
After that, the Ukrainian Army will be ready to move."
He added, “The Ukrainian Army is fully ready to move out and cover flanks.
Nobody has ever covered our flanks.
All the stories about preventing the Ukrainian reserves from entering Bakhmut is total crap.
Not a single shot was made by the Russian Army.
Nobody is giving them ammunition.
Not to them, not to us.
A criminal order was made not to give out ammunition."
Prigozhin fumed, "Ammunition is stacked high in warehouses
as I already said before.
Scumbags who made these decisions should be answerable to the mothers of those killed
in action."
He said, due to the lack of ammunition, too many troops are dying,
Prigozhin explained, "Five people are dying instead of one," "It
is a five-to-one ratio.
One soldier should die when coming into a building.
But five are dying because there's no ammunition.
The Ukrainian offensive is inevitable.
There's treason inside the Russian Federation.
We are not even allowed to build up our defenses."
Yevgeny Prigozhin is urging the Russian authorities to declare the so-called "special military
operation" over and concentrate on consolidating its hold on the occupied territories of Ukraine.
He stated, "For the authorities and for society as a
whole, it is necessary to put a decisive end to the ‘special military operation’.
The ideal option is to announce that the special military operation is over and inform everyone
that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense, we have actually
achieved them.
We have ground down a huge number of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and can report
to ourselves that our task has been completed.
He stated further, “Theoretically, Russia has already achieved
this decisive end by eradicating a large part of Ukraine’s active male population and
intimidating another part of it that has fled to Europe.
Russia has cut off the Sea of Azov and a large chunk of the Black Sea, seized a fat chunk
of Ukraine's territory, and created a land corridor to Crimea."
This advice seems to indicate that the Wagner boss feels that all Russia can do now is consolidate
and cling to the territories that it already has.
Yevgeny Prigozhin told Russian war blogger Semyon Pegov.
"Now, with regard to the need in general for shells at the front, what we want.
Today we are coming to the point where Wagner is ending”
He continued, “Wagner, in a short period of time, will cease to exist.
We will become history, nothing to worry about, things like this happen,"
He did make a U-turn saying he had been joking and his forces would stop shelling Bakhmut
to allow Ukrainian forces to show the city to U.S. journalists.
Given the chronology of recent statements, it seems what he originally said was his real
thing.
There have been many reports that the Wagner Group was getting increasingly influential
as the core Russian military was struggling.
Prigozhin has been critical of Kremlin’s policies on several occasions which created
a certain level of discomfort in Kremlin.
Some news points to the fact he was at odds with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu
and is being cut to size which explains the lack of support from the Russian military
and the industrial complex.
There are several internal battles being waged in Russia and it seems Kremlin has decided
to kill off or severely handicap the Wagner Group.