Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner paramilitary organization, accused Russian regular soldiers of abandoning their positions in Bakhmut, the center of months-long fighting in eastern Ukraine, and the Russian state of failing to defend Russia shortly after the Red Square parade. in Moscow to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II.

“Today, one of the units of the Ministry of Defense abandoned one of the flanks of the front. They left their positions, put them on their feet,” complained Prigozhin, who is waging an open war with the Russian military leadership.

He also said that after the fighting in Grigorovka and Ivanovskoye on the outskirts of Bakhmut, the Ukrainians advanced three kilometers into the area. He also warned that a major Ukrainian counter-offensive was coming soon, saying: “They are absolutely clear: the counter-offensive will be on the ground, not on TV.”

“Why doesn’t the state protect the country?” he asks in a video posted on Telegram, while Vladimir Putin, during a speech on Red Square, insisted that Russia’s “future” “depends” on the soldiers who fight in Ukraine.

“Now there is nothing more important than your military duty. The security of the country depends on you today, the future of our country, our people depends on you, ”Putin said, addressing the military participating in the parade.

“Victory Day is the victory of our ancestors. We didn’t deserve a bit of this victory (…) There is a crime called “destruction of the Russian people” (…) And this is just a small group here,” he said, having for once succeeded against the Russian military leadership.

Last week, the founder of Wagner announced that he would withdraw his men from Bakhmut on May 10 if the Russian military headquarters did not send him the requested ammunition. On Sunday, he said he “got a promise” to send the necessary supplies, implying that Wagner would not leave Bahamut immediately.

Delivery late

But on Tuesday, he reiterated that he would start withdrawing troops in the event of a lack of supplies: Prigozhin said that Wagner had only received 10% of the ammunition she had requested. “We just got scammed“, pointed out.

“We will not leave Bahamut, we will stay for a few more days, but we will fight, we will make it easy for ourselves,” he continued. for a few days his ultimatum.

Although Yevgeny Prigozhin has been criticizing Russia’s military hierarchy for months now, calling it “incompetent”, his verbal attacks have intensified in recent days.

On Tuesday, Prigozhin accused the Russian military hierarchy of seeking to “deceive” Putin about the attack on Ukraine.

“If all this is done in order to deceive the head of the armed forces, then either this head will tear your m … or the Russian people, who will be furious if the war is lost,” Prigogine said very dramatically.

Source: APE-MPE, TASS