The boss of the Wagner Group, a notorious Russian paramilitary group, said some Kremlin forces had “abandoned their positions” and fled the front lines of the war with Moscow and Ukraine.
In a video released on Telegram on Tuesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s group, taunted Russian forces while recounting how they fled near the war-torn Ukrainian town of Bakhmut.
“So today a unit of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks and abandoned its position,” said Prigozhin. “They all fled and opened a front that was about two kilometers (1.24 mi) wide and 500 meters (1,640 ft) deep.”
In a video posted before Russia’s annual Victory Day parade, Prigozhin said Russians fled because of “stupid” and “criminal” orders from senior military commanders, according to a translation by the Moscow Times.
According to news outlets, Prigozhin said: “The soldiers should not die because their leadership is absolutely stupid.”
In addition, Prigozhin, who recently threatened to withdraw fighters from Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition, criticized the situation on the front lines if the Kremlin did not send more ammunition by the time the Victory Day parade was over. Had threatened to publish a video while disclosing. I did
“After all, what if we find ammunition? Then we will not show it,” said Prigozhin.
It is unclear whether Prigozhin received ammunition by the end of the Victory Day parade.
Wagner’s group of warriors has been playing a key role in the fighting in Bahamut for months.
Prigozhin has long been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Russia’s top leaders have accused him of blockades and blamed Putin for the deaths of his fighters in Ukraine.