Prigozhin Threatens to Pull Wagner Group Out of Bakhmut

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, has said his fighters will leave the fiercely contested Ukrainian city of Bakhmut if they do not receive ammunition deliveries from Russia.

Speaking to a Russian military blogger aligned with the Kremlin on Saturday, he said Wagner fighters would continue to wage war in the embattled Donetsk city, but would soon need to "withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die," according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank.

Prigozhin directly called on Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to "issue ammunition immediately," in a clip posted to Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's internal affairs minister.

Prigozhin, a long-time associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly made public calls for ammunition supplies for his Wagner fighters in Ukraine. In February, he accused Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, who commands Moscow's forces in Ukraine, of "high treason" and attempting to "destroy" the Wagner Group through a lack of ammunition.

Prigozhin has also published images of what he said were the bodies of Wagner soldiers killed in Bakhmut, attributing their deaths to "shell hunger."

The paramilitary outfit has played a prominent role in Russian operations in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the country since the outbreak of all-out war in February 2022. Capturing Bakhmut has been a priority for Russian forces, and defending it is a steadfast goal of Kyiv's fighters.

Clashes in Bakhmut have wracked up huge casualty counts on both sides, with the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, previously labeling the city a "slaughter-fest for the Russians."

"Are we going to attack Bakhmut or not? Are we here or not?" Prigozhin added in the clip posted by Gerashchenko.

"We are patriots and we will go to Bakhmut while we have the last cartridge, but these cartridges are left not for weeks, but for days," the Wagner head added in the translated excerpt.

Prigozhin doubled down on his attempts to "convince the Kremlin to go over to the defensive in eastern Ukraine" in the interview, the ISW think tank said on Saturday.

"Prigozhin's threat to withdraw from Bakhmut may also indicate that Prigozhin fears that the Russian positions in Bakhmut's rear are vulnerable to counterattacks," the think tank wrote in its daily update.

Ukrainian officials and Western analysts have long discussed a counteroffensive from Kyiv's forces in the spring, although the details of Ukrainian operations have not been made public.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Scandinavian media outlets that "there will be a counterattack, and I think it will succeed."

Saying he would not divulge further details, Zelensky added: "Have we had enough armaments for that? I would say that we are on the way to the fact that we are."

On Friday, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov suggested the counteroffensive push could be imminent, telling the media that, "we are to a high percentage ready."

"As soon as there is God's will, the weather, and a decision by commanders, we will do it," he added, according to Reuters.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry and the Wagner Group for comment via email.