Wagner boss threatens to abandon Bakhmut over ammo shortage

The leader of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin has taken to Telegram once again to complain about the lack of ammunition his men are receiving. 

On May 2nd, Wagner mercenaries made serious advances in Bakhmut but also suffered heavy casualties with more than 100 men injured or killed during the engagement. 

Rather than praising Ukrainian forces for their battle harder professionalism, Prigozhin chose to aim his ire at Moscow for lacking the ammunition he needed to fight and win. 

"We are still not given ammunition in the required amounts," Prigozhin said in a posted Telegram audio message according to a translation from Insider’s Erin Sondergrass.

This wasn’t the first time the mercenary captain has complained about the lack of weapons or ammunition his private military company has received from the Russian government. 

In February, Prigozhin was embroiled in a very public fight with Vladimir Putin’s Defense Ministry over the government institution's unwillingness to properly support Wagner’s offensive in Bakhmut. 

"Never one to hold back, Prigozhin complained that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov not only prevented ammunition from being sent but did not help with air transport or even provide shovels,” wrote BBC’s Paul Kirby.

That situation eventually sorted itself out and Prigozhin received more supplies. But the issue of ammunition has continued to crop up for the mercenary leader since then. 

On April 30th, another major Wagner assault saw the loss of 94 soldiers due to lack of ammunition and it prompted Prigozhin to threaten his group's withdrawal from Bakhmut. 

“Every day we have stacks of thousands of bodies that we put in coffins and send home,” Prigozhin told Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov according to Al Jazeera. 

“If the ammunition deficit is not replenished, we are forced—in order not to run like cowardly rats afterward—to either withdraw or die,” Prigozhin added. 

Prigozhin threatened to pull Wagner out of Bakhmut before in his previous spat with the Defence Ministry, and it worked. But it looks like his luck may have run out this time since he's still complaining about Wagner's lack of ammunition.

The Wagner leader issued an ultimatum for more ammunition by April 27th according to Business Insider, but that deadline has long since come and gone without Prigozhin making any mention of his demands being met by Defense Minister Shoigu, or so most onlookers thought...

On May 3rd, Prigozhin stated that he believed the much-anticipated counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces had begun, which would seriously harm any relief and supply efforts for Wagner. 

"I believe the advance of the Ukrainian army has already begun ... We are seeing the greatest possible activity both on the perimeter and within the front lines," the mercenary leader said according to a translation provided by Reuters. 

"I, therefore, believe that it has all already started. And I believe it will all enter an active phase in the very near future. It could be a matter of days." Prigozhin added. 

Prigozhin also took some time to call out the Russian Defense Ministry once again for not providing his soldiers with the ammunition and artillery they needed to take Bakhmut. 

"The Ministry of Defense has not provided us with artillery ammunition and we only have resources for a few days," Prigozhin said. "They ignore all requests from Wagner."

Two days after criticizing Russia's Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin announced plans to withdraw his mercenary forces from Bakhmut and expected that Russian soldiers would take their places according to a Reuters report.

"My lads will not suffer useless and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition," the mercenary captain said in a video that accompanied a letter written announcement according to Reuters. "If, because of your petty jealousy, you do not want to give the Russian people the victory of taking Bakhmut, that's your problem,"

The situation remains murky now, but various sources have reported Wagner forces were to be replaced with Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechen battalions while other media outlets have said Wagner won't be leaving their positions around Bakhmut.

The Guardian noted on May 7th that Prigozhin had "ditched plans to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut" after he posted an audio message to Telegram saying he had received combat orders and a promise for "as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations," though its difficult to parse fact from fiction at this moment in time...