Yevgeny Prigozhin‘s sudden announcement followed a furious tirade in which he blamed Moscow’s military leaders for the heavy losses suffered by his Wagner fighters.
The head of the mercenary group leading Russia’s struggling offensive in eastern Ukraine said Friday that his forces will withdraw from the high-profile battle for Bakhmut due to a lack of military support.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s sudden announcement marked the latest dramatic escalation in his feud with Moscow’s military leadership. It followed a furious tirade in which Prigozhin appeared to be surrounded by dead bodies as he blamed defense chiefs for the heavy losses suffered by his Wagner Group fighters.
Hours after his expletive-laden rant, Prigozhin said he would hand over control of the grueling Bakhmut offensive to Russian army forces next week due to a shortage of ammunition supplies.
“I am withdrawing the units of PMC Wagner from Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they are doomed to senseless death,” he said, adding that his troops would withdraw to camps on May 10 to “lick our wounds.”