Ukraine Says Wagner Ammo Shortage Complaint Is Fake Excuse For Bakhmut Failure

Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut say they see no shortage of Russian artillery ammunition being shot at them and that Wagner's leader Prigozhin's complaints are a fake excuse to cover up his failure to take the city. JL

Alexander Khrebet reports in the Kyiv Independent:

Ukraine’s military dismissed Prigozhin’s claims of ammunition shortage as fake. Prigozhin has repeatedly complained about ammunition shortages, blaming Russia's top military leadership and threatening to abandon positions in and around Bakhmut if Wagner mercenaries are denied additional supplies. “Prigozhin has taken on military obligations and is unable to fulfill them – in particular, to capture Bakhmut.” Prigozhin’s threat to withdraw the mercenaries from Bakhmut (was called) a "last-ditch effort to cling to a prominent role in the invasion."

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the boss of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group, reiterated that the Russian military commandment demands that his mercenaries stay in Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, where they have been fighting for almost a year, but still hasn’t been sending the ammunition the group requested.

“A combat order came yesterday which clearly stated that if we leave our positions it will be regarded as treason,” Prigozhin's press service said. “That was the message to us (from the commandment).”

“If there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and we will be asking who is really betraying the motherland. Apparently, the one (betraying Russia) is the person who signed (the order to supply too little ammunition),” the statement continued.

Prigozhin has repeatedly complained about ammunition shortages, blaming Russia's top military leadership and threatening to abandon positions in and around Bakhmut if Wagner mercenaries would be denied additional supplies.

“Ukrainians will come to you in Rostov if the front line collapses. (They) do everything for the front line to collapse,” Prigozhin said in a May 9 video, addressing an unnamed Russian general who allegedly pledged to supply Wagner mercenaries with the requested ammunition but hasn’t fulfilled the promise yet.  

Russia’s Rostov-on-Don city that Prigozhin refers to in the video is headquarters to the Russian Southern Military District, led by Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev.

However, Ukraine’s military dismissed Prigozhin’s claims of ammunition shortage as fake.

“Prigozhin has taken on military obligations and is unable to fulfill them – in particular, to capture Bakhmut,” Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said on May 8.

The Wagner mercenaries have served as the main attack force in Russia's attempts to seize Bakhmut and the entire Donetsk Oblast, more than half of which it currently occupies.

The Washington Post called Prigozhin’s threat to withdraw the mercenaries from Bakhmut a "last-ditch effort to cling to a prominent role in the invasion."

Bakhmut has been the epicenter of fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. The Wagner mercenaries have served as the primary shock troops in Russia's attempts to expand its control over Donetsk Oblast, more than half of which Russia currently occupies.

For the past year, Russian troops made only incremental gains in the Bakhmut sector, advancing only a few kilometers at the cost of thousands of killed and wounded in action.

Ukraine still holds western parts of the city.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its evening update on May 9 that Bakhmut and Marinka continue to be experiencing the most severe fighting.

Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Marinka remain the primary targets of Russia's offensive in the region, where Ukraine’s forces repelled almost 30 Russian attacks on May 9, the military said.

Apart from Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces also attacked Sumy, Chernihiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson oblasts on May 9 with artillery, mines, and missiles, according to the military.