Russia's Wagner chief warns of frontline collapse if forced to retreat from Bakhmut

Reuters ^ | March 6, 2023 | Lidia Kelly, Nick Starkov, Stephen Coates

[familyop]

"If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video published over the weekend. "The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests."...the ammunition that his forces were promised by Moscow in February had not yet been shipped. "For now, we are trying to figure out the reason: is it just ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal," Prigozhin said on his usual press service Telegram channel.

[popdonnelly]

They don’t know which end to use to dig a hole.

[Does so]

Agree...

[wardaddy]

The eastern part of Ukraine that is in question holds 90% of the countries GDP

[wardaddy]

There is that too but They’ve always got China and Iran or Syria in a pinch

[Kazan]

Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for March 6, 2023:

- Russian forces continue the encirclement of Bakhmut;

- Western media admits Russian operations around Bakhmut is exhausting Ukrainian forces and may diminish them ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive;

- US announces another military assistance package for Ukraine with fewer items listed and absent of any specific quantities despite previous packages featuring such information;

- Ukraine has urgently asked the West for more artillery shells in particular, highlighting the inability for Western industry to match or exceed Russian military industrial output;

- German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall claims to be considering building a tank factory in Ukraine. Older articles claim only if approved by the German government and after the conflict is over, newer articles suggest the factory may be built sooner;

- Ukrainian pilots are in the US to assess their skills for potential training on US warplanes (likely the F-16);

- Training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s or other Western warplanes will admittedly take years, if F-16s arrive in Ukraine beforehand they will likely be Western operators posing as Ukrainian pilots;