The Russian-backed Wagner Group has been actively involved in the conflict in Ukraine, particularly in the eastern region where separatists have been fighting Ukrainian government forces. Richard Wagner, the commander of the group, has reportedly expressed concerns that their position in Bakhmut is under threat due to a lack of promised ammunition.
The Wagner Group is a private military company that has been accused of operating in Ukraine on behalf of the Russian government. Moscow has denied any involvement in the conflict, despite evidence to the contrary. The group is believed to have been involved in several battles in Ukraine, including the battle of Debaltseve in 2015, where Ukrainian forces suffered a significant defeat.
The warning from Wagner comes at a time when the conflict in eastern Ukraine has seen a recent escalation in fighting. The ceasefire agreed upon in 2020 has been violated multiple times, with both sides blaming each other for the violations. The situation has led to the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of tens of thousands more since the conflict began in 2014.
The lack of promised ammunition for the Wagner Group could further escalate the situation, leading to a potential increase in fighting and casualties. The situation also raises questions about the involvement of private military companies in conflicts and the role of the international community in regulating their actions.After mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists last year, a Russian victory in Bakhmut, which had a per-war population of roughly 70,000, would give it the first significant victory in an expensive winter operation.
Wagner Group, has reportedly warned that the group’s position near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is in danger due to a lack of promised ammunition from the Kremlin
The Wagner Group is a private military company believed to be operating on behalf of the Russian government. The group has been involved in several conflicts around the world, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where it has been accused of supporting separatist forces. The group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Wagner Group has been accused of human rights abuses and war crimes, including the torture and killing of civilians. The group’s activities have raised questions about the use of private military companies in conflicts and the responsibility of states to regulate their actions.
The leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary army warned that without ammunition, Russia’s position near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was in danger, the most recent indication of a rift between the Kremlin and the leader of the private militia.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian military authorities and analysts, commanders of the Russian 155th Brigade operating south of Bakhmut near the town of Vuhledar were defying orders to attack after suffering significant losses while attempting to take it.
The Ukrainian Azov Regiment’s command center was attacked by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, on Sunday in the southeast Zaporizhzhya area. The ministry made no more mention of the assault. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, warned that if Moscow did not provide the ammunition it had promised to his soldiers in February, Russia’s front lines close to Bakhmut risked collapsing.
“For now, we are trying to figure out the reason: is it just regular bureaucracy or a betrayal,” Prigozhin said on Sunday in his press service Telegram channel, alluding to the lack of munitions.
The mercenary leader frequently lambasts Russia’s senior generals and defence ministers. He charged last month that withholding armaments from his soldiers constituted “treason” on the part of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and others.
Prigozhin stated that his troops were concerned that the government could seek to use them as scapegoats if Russia lost the war in a roughly four-minute video posted on the Wagner Orchestra Telegram channel on Saturday.
Wagner’s withdrawal from Bakhmut just now will cause the entire front to crumble, said Prigozhin. “For any military groups defending Russian interests, the situation won’t be sweet.”
“Defence holding,”
After mobilizing hundreds of thousands of military personnel last year, a Russian victory in Bakhmut, which had a per-war population of roughly 70,000, would give it the first significant victory in an expensive winter operation. According to Russia, it would be a necessary step towards achieving one of its top priorities, the conquest of the industrial region of the Donbass.
A commander of Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, Volodymyr Nazarenko, stated that despite difficult circumstances, “the defence is holding” and that there has been no order to retreat.
In a Telegram video, Nazarenko said, “The situation in Bakhmut and around it is pretty much hell-like, as it is on the entire eastern front.
Russian soldiers were attempting to push on Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian military, which shelled the city and the adjacent communities of Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Kurdyumivka, and Orikhovo-Vasylivka.
Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst from Ukraine, described the situation in Bakhmut as “serious” in a video clip.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces pushed into the town of Bilohorivka, which is located just within the Luhansk area, and fired a number of localities in the direction of Kupiansk and Lyman.
Farther south, it said that Russian forces began preparations for an operation in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson districts, firing Kherson and a number of other towns and villages, killing civilians in the process.
According to the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Russian mortar munitions killed a lady and two children in a village in the Kherson area.
Ukraine claimed that top officers of Russia’s 155th Brigade, which Kyiv has incurred significant recent losses, were defying orders to advance near Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk.
The Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, visited Ukraine over the weekend, meeting with commanders and presenting awards to his troops.
The visit by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, to Ukraine over the weekend has been seen as a significant development in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Shoigu met with commanders and presented awards to Russian troops in the area, indicating Russia’s continued involvement in the conflict. The visit comes amid reports of a rift between the Russian government and the leader of the Wagner private military company, which has been accused of supporting separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. The conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths and displacement of millions of people, with the Ukrainian military receiving aid from Western countries to counter Russian aggression.
According to information now available, the brigade’s leaders and senior officers are refusing to launch a new senseless attack as ordered by their inexperienced subordinates, which would involve storming well-defended Ukrainian positions without enough protection or preparation.
Two Russian “Cossack” troops named Steppe and Tiger, according to military expert Zhdanov, had expressed displeasure with their superiors and refused to take part in any additional onslaught on the hilltop settlement.
On a rare weekend visit, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu met with commanders and presented awards to his troops in Ukraine.Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, sent troops into Ukraine on a “special military operation” a little over a year ago.
Since then, tens of thousands of people have died, millions have fled, and towns have been put to ruins, but Ukrainian forces have restricted Russian advances to the east and south with the aid of Western weapons.
According to two US officials on Saturday, two Ukrainian pilots are currently in Arizona flying flight simulators and undergoing evaluation by the US military.
The United States has not said if it will send fighter aircraft or advanced remotely piloted drones to Ukraine, despite the fact that Ukraine has urged its Western partners to send F-16 jets.
