The Armed Forces of Ukraine have responded to recent statements by the founder of the Wagner PMC mercenary group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, saying that his complaints about "shell hunger" are unfounded.
Prigozhin insists that his main problem is the lack of shells, which the russian Defence Ministry allegedly does not supply him with in the required quantity. In a high-profile video message, standing against the backdrop of "fresh" corpses of Wagner servicemen, he said that the Wagner PMC would retreat from near Bakhmut if it did not receive as much ammunition as it needed.
In fact, what Prygozhyn lacks is not ammunition, but soldiers, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, on the air of the Ukrainian national TV marathon.
"The main reason for Prigozhin's statements is that he has assumed military obligations but is unable to fulfill them, in particular, to take Bakhmut. And he comes up with this nonsense about shell hunger, although in fact his main problem is the constant destruction of personnel by our military and the inability to replace them," said Serhiy Cherevaty.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that they saw no signs that Prigozhin intended to fulfill his promise and withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut; on the contrary, the most trained Wagner servicemen from other parts of the frontline are being transferred to the city in large numbers. They also reported that the russian side has recently been firing about 25,000 shells a day at Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut.
On Sunday, Prigozhin said he had achieved his goal: according to him, the russian Defence Ministry promised to provide as many weapons and ammunition "as needed to continue the fighting."
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Prigozhin, along with Kadyrov's blackmail, managed to force the russian General Staff to resume supplies.
"Kadyrov, with his threats to move his troops to Bakhmut, may have blackmailed the russian military command to provide ammunition to Wagner mercenaries. Kadyrov may have supported Wagner PMC's attempts to blackmail russian military commanders to restore his position in the kremlin's power structure," ISW said in its latest report.
They believe that if such blackmail succeeds, it means that Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the russian Armed Forces, does not control all russian forces in Ukraine.
"The deterioration of Gerasimov's ability to control his commanders is likely to further limit the ability of the russian Armed Forces to conduct coordinated operations," the experts believe.
Background. As reported, Prigozhin and Kadyrov intend to shift the responsibility for the failures in the area of Bakhmut to the russian army.