Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia's Wagner Group, on Monday acknowledged a "serious problem" with the supply of ammunition for his troops amid a public dispute with the Russian defense ministry.
Source: CNN
"The issues that I raised regarding ammunition, unfortunately, remain unresolved," Prigozhin said in an emotional audio posted by his team on the official Telegram channel. – "And this is the main problem.
Prigozhin believes that Russia has sufficient ammunition stocks because "the industry has reached the required level" and can meet the country's needs, but said he "cannot solve this problem, despite all my contacts and connections."
Prigozhin claimed that he was told that he needed to "go and apologize" to someone "high-ranking" with whom he had a "complicated relationship" in order to solve the problem. He stated that he did not know who it was.
"To whom should I apologize? Who should I bow to? 140 million Russians! Please tell me to whom I should bow down so that my guys die half as much as they are dying today," he said. – "Today, twice as many fighters of the Wagner PMC and other military units that we cannot cover are dying every day because of the total shell famine, when we are not allowed to use what is in the warehouses."
The conflict between Prigozhin and the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry is growing.
According to Prigozhin, the Wagner group did not have such problems with ammunition when General Sergei Surovikin was in command of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In January, Surovikin was replaced by General Valery Gerasimov, with whom Prigozhin has a sharp conflict.
"Those who prevent us from winning this war are directly working for the enemy," he said.
Background. Earlier, it was reported that Prigozhin is no longer allowed on Russian TV, and the Wagner PMC was banned from being mentioned in reports.