Prigozhin is gradually winding down the activities of the Wagner PMC in Ukraine

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, is preparing to wind down the operations of his private army in Ukraine after the Russian military command managed to cut off the supply of men and ammunition, according to people familiar with the matter.

Source. This was reported by Bloomberg.

Prigozhin, who is viewed as a threat by the Russian political establishment, is struggling with a shortage of manpower and ammunition after being banned from recruiting from prisons, his main source of recruits, and deprived of ammunition.

Wagner's troops have so far failed to take their main objective, the town of Bakhmut, despite months of attempts and staggering losses. According to the people, Prigozhin now plans to focus on Africa again.

While his mercenaries struggled to advance several tens of kilometers in and around Bakhmut over months of fighting, the high command managed to sow doubts in Putin's mind about the military prowess of the Wagner fighters.

Ultimately, Putin handed over prisoner recruitment to the Ministry of Defense, cutting off the flow of recruits to Wagner. The supply of ammunition from the military slowed down. The Kremlin also did not like Prigozhin's independence.

"Prigozhin is in everyone's way," says political analyst Tatiana Stanova. "His only defense now is his personal relationship with Putin, who still finds him useful in some way.

After several weeks of public complaints that the Russian Defense Ministry was not supplying Wagner with ammunition, Prigozhin admitted this month that after the Battle of Bakhmut, Wagner would have to "reboot and reduce its numbers."

He recently touted Wagner's capture of a village in the area, but failed to mention that its population was only two people in the last census.

Background. As a reminder, a scandal erupted in Italy over information that Medvedev had ordered Wagnerites to kill the defense minister.