Russia’s Wagner Group says more arms promised for Bakhmut battle
Russia’s Wagner group of mercenaries appears to be abandoning plans to withdraw from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, saying its troops have been promised more weapons by Moscow and suggesting that their attack on what Russia sees as a springboard to other cities in the Donbas can continue. region.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian and Russian media reported explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea, and Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that air defenses detected and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea overnight.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had said on Friday that his fighters, who led a months-long assault on Bakhmut, would retreat after running out of ammunition and suffering “useless and unjustified” losses as a result.
But in an audio message posted to his Telegram channel on Sunday, he said: “We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything is necessary to prevent the enemy from cutting us off [from supplies] will be deployed.”
A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment following Prigozhin’s latest statement.
Russian officials have repeatedly tried to assuage concerns that their front-line forces have not received sufficient supplies. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, referring to the Russian military as a whole, that they had “received enough ammunition” to effectively inflict damage on enemy forces.
More than enough ammunition
On the Ukrainian side, Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command, said in response to questions about Prigozhin’s comments that Russian forces have “more than enough” ammunition.
He said Prigozhin’s comments are intended to divert attention from the heavy casualties Wagner suffered by throwing so many troops into battle.
“Four hundred and eighty-nine artillery strikes in the last 24 hours in the Bakhmut area – is that an ammunition hunger?”
Prigozhin’s threat to withdraw from Bakhmut highlights the pressure from Russian forces as Ukraine makes final preparations for a counter-offensive, backed by thousands of Western-donated armored vehicles and newly trained troops.
The battle for Bakhmut has been the most intense of the conflict, costing thousands of lives on both sides in months of warfare.
Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in recent weeks, but clung to the city to inflict as much Russian casualties as possible ahead of Kiev’s planned major advance against the invading forces along its 1,000km frontline.
Message to the ‘demons’
Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin has woken up from an artificial coma after being seriously injured in a car bomb that Russia blames on Ukraine.
Prilepin insisted on Sunday that he would not be deterred, a day after he was injured in the blast that killed his friend and assistant.
“I say to the demons: ‘You will not intimidate anyone,'” Prilepin said in his first message since the incident. “God exists. We will win.”
Russia has blamed Ukraine and the United States for the attack on the 47-year-old writer. Prilepin is a staunch supporter of the offensive in Ukraine.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) also said on Sunday it had thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to attack a military airfield in central Russia with drones filled with explosives.
The pilot of a light aircraft and other members of what the FSB called a “sabotage group” were detained in Russia’s Tula region after flying in from Ukraine, it said in a statement.
Russia also continued its missile strikes against Ukraine in anticipation of a counter-offensive targeting an industrial estate in the southern Mykolaiv region.
Airstrike warnings sounded for several hours until early Sunday morning in about two-thirds of Ukraine, with officials saying air defense systems shot down a number of drones, including one over Kyiv airspace.
Six members of Ukraine’s state emergency service have also been killed in Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region, Ukraine’s attorney general said.
Ukraine is expected to soon launch a long-awaited counter-offensive to recapture territory held by Moscow, including in the Zaporizhia region, which is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog expressed concern over the possible escalation of hostilities.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Organization, said in a statement Saturday, using a different spelling for Zaporizhzhia.
“I am deeply concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”