Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private military company “Wagner”, said that his fighters remained in Bakhmut (Artemovsk). According to Prigozhin, on the night of May 7, the PMC “for the first time in all this” received a combat order with secret data.
“They promise to give us as much ammo and weapons as we need to continue further action,” said the PMC chairman.
According to him, the private military company was promised to put “everything necessary” on the wing so that they were “not cut off by the enemy”, and also given the freedom to act in Bakhmut as they saw fit.
“we are given [генерала Сергея] Surovikin as a person who will make all decisions in the framework of the military operations of Wagner PMC and its interaction with the Ministry of Defense. And this is the only person with the star of an army general who knows how to fight, ”wrote Prigozhin’s press service.
The businessman also said that on May 6, Wagner offered the junior commanders of the PMC to join other military formations if they had such a desire.
“Everyone answered unequivocally no, and for PMC Wagner it was obscenely natural,” said Prigozhin.
“Operation complete”
On the night of May 7, the founder of the PMC said that he thought his army had completed its operation in Bakhmut. He said the fighters will be sent to training camps, where they will stay “until the threat to Russia and its citizens is eliminated as part of this military operation.”
“The Bakhmut meat grinder has completely accomplished its task,” he said.
Prigozhin argued that about 95% of the city’s territory is under the control of Russian forces, and the remaining 5% “does not play any role in the so-called development of success and the advance of the Red Army to the West.”
On May 5, Prigozhin announced that Wagner PMC would leave Bakhmut on May 10 due to “bullet starvation” and high personal losses. In response to such a proposal from the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, he confirmed his readiness to transfer his positions in the city to Akhmat special forces units.
The entrepreneur had complained of “shell hunger” more than once before. In winter, Prigozhin explained that with this question he himself “went around all the well-known offices in Moscow.”
The founder of PMC also said that when Surovikin commanded the Russian troop group (from October 2022 to January 2023), there were no problems with ammunition. “I don’t blame anyone and I don’t want to show it to anyone. Drop your whims and give me ammo!” he called out.
Kadyrov urges “Wagner” to stay in Bakhmut
On May 6, the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, wrote: video message To Yevgeny Prigozhin, to whom by May 10 he replied to statements of his intention to leave Bakhmut.
“Zhenya, you will stay on the defensive until we reach positions. And when we start to move forward, only then will we determine where to go … I tell you in terms of concepts – you have to do this, this and this. People will contact you and explain the situation,” he said.
He also invited the PMC fighters to stay in Bakhmut and promised to create better conditions for them “than today”. Kadyrov noted that the Wagner warriors knew the area and therefore had to take the city.
The head of Chechnya asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to order the relocation of Akhmat units to Bakhmut. Earlier, Akhmat promised to send special forces soldiers to the positions of the Wagner PMC. Prigozhin agreed to transfer the positions of his army near Bakhmut to the Chechen units.