War in Ukraine: Prigozhin, Wagner's leader, accuses Russian soldiers of fleeing fighting in Bakhmut

The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner on Tuesday (May 9th) accused soldiers of the regular Russian army of fleeing their positions in Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and accused the state of being unable to defend Russia. Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin is in open conflict with the Russian military hierarchy whom he accuses of not providing enough ammunition to his group, on the front line in Bakhmut, and has been multiplying criticism for days.

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Today (Tuesday), one of the units of the Ministry of Defence fled from one of our flanks (...) They left their positions, they all fled," Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram. "We have a Ministry of Intrigue instead of a Ministry of Defence, so our army is detaching ... The 72nd brigade has lost three square kilometers" of territory, he added. "The fish rots by the head. So if the missions are set by troops, the soldier leaves the trench, because there is no point in dying unnecessarily (...) A soldier should not die because of the stupidity of his leaders," Prigozhin said.

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The statements came as at the same time, Vladimir Putin was overseeing a military parade in Moscow commemorating "Victory Day" over Nazi Germany in 1945, which was supposed to exalt the power of the Russian military. Without explicitly mentioning them, the Russian Defense Ministry appeared to respond to Yevgeny Prigozhin's accusations by assuring that his troops deployed in Bakhmut continue to "support" the operations by "containing enemy actions on the flanks." This public display of accusations highlights in any case the deep divisions within the Russian forces, at the very moment when those in Kiev say they are preparing to launch a major offensive.

Increasing attacks

If he has been criticizing for months the commanders of the Russian army, whom he portrays as incapable, the verbal attacks of Yevgeny Prigozhin have recently gone up a notch. In several videos released last week, he rained insults on Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of being responsible for the "tens of thousands" of Russian fighters killed or wounded in Ukraine.

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On Tuesday, this time he accused the military hierarchy of seeking to "deceive" Vladimir Putin. "If everything is done to deceive the commander-in-chief (Vladimir Putin), then either the commander-in-chief will tear your heart apart, or it will be the Russian people who will be furious if the war is lost," he said in his usual flowery language. "There is a crime called 'the destruction of the Russian people' (...) And that's what a small group does," he said again, pointing the finger at the General Staff. "Why can't the state defend the country?" he asked.

Last week, Wagner's boss announced that he would withdraw his men from Bakhmut on May 10 if the General Staff did not provide him with the ammunition he requested. On Sunday, he said he had received "the promise" of sufficient deliveries, seeming to rule out any retreat of Bakhmut in the immediate future. On Tuesday, however, he reiterated that he would begin the retreat in the absence of sufficient deliveries: he claimed that Wagner had received on Tuesday "only 10%" of the ammunition he had requested. "We will not leave (Bakhmut), we will (stay) for a few more days, we will fight anyway, we will manage," he said, appearing to postpone his ultimatum by a few days.