Posted on 03/07/2023 11:15:59 AM PST by marcusmaximus
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the seizure of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine was critical to punching a hole in Ukrainian defences and would allow Moscow's forces to mount further offensive operations deeper inside the country.
-snip-
Asked about Shoigu's comments on Tuesday, Prigozhin said he did not know what would happen after the capture of Bakhmut, but called on Russia not to get ahead of itself.
"They say 'don't sell the skin until you've caught the bear,' but nobody talks about the consequences of trying to remove the skin while the bear is still alive," he said in a post on Telegram.
The mercenary boss and defence ministry have been embroiled in a long-running row over Russia's campaign in Ukraine.
In his latest criticism, Prigozhin accused Shoigu of hobbling the Bakhmut offensive by not supplying his Wagner forces with enough ammunition. The defence ministry has rejected such allegations in the past.
In his post on Tuesday, Prigozhin made pointed reference to the defence minister, saying he "had not seen him in Bakhmut" and said Wagner forces were coming up against well-equipped Ukrainian forces, who could number up to 20,000 in strength.
"Zelenskiy is not running out of people, thousands more are being thrown into the 'meat grinder'. They have ammunition and weapons," he said.
Prigozhin also appeared to criticise Shoigu for publicly commenting on what Russian forces might do after seizing Bakhmut.
"Why Sergei Kuzhugetovich (Shoigu) commented on that I do not know ... perhaps in order to please the Russian audience. Perhaps to annoy Zelenskiy," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Putin MIA for 3rd day in a row...
He should wait until they actually capture it. Because they haven’t yet.
Seems to be suckering Prigozhin into wasting more of his own troops.
“ He should wait until they actually capture it. Because they haven’t yet.”
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No they haven’t. To minimize loss of their soldiers and equipment in that zone, I suspect that they’ll simply strengthen the defenses of their operational encirclement areas and continue with the “meat grinder” process on the poor schmucks the Zelensky is placing in that “cauldron”.
Shoigu angling for Prigo’s gold mines in Africa.
You left out “don’t poke the bear”.
I had in the past referred to this as a Civil war, in which we have interests in but don’t need to get kinetically involved in.
I was wrong, this is now a pissing contest.
Ukraine will run out of men before Russians do, but in any event both countries will be deeply wounded for years to come.
Russia may lose Asia east of the Urals. Ukraine will never get Crimea back, but both countries will be wide open to economic poachers.
???
Significant you think?
Russia must be laughing at Ukrainians flooding the Bakhmut area with more troops to be chewed up by relentless Russian bombardment.
Why chase the Ukrainian Army when they are all rushing into the range of your guns?
Napoleon had this right: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
“would allow Moscow’s forces to mount further offensive operations deeper inside the country”
Except it’s spring now, which means the Russian vehicles will just get stuck in the mud and abandoned again if they try that. So maybe in 3 months, if they can hold on to their gains that long.
Putin and his flunkees have been trying to conquer Bakhmut for almost 9 months now.
and continue with the “meat grinder” process on the poor schmucks the Zelensky is placing in that “cauldron”.
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As one Russian general of note said” start boiling the cauldron “, hasn’t the US figured it out yet? Russia has a much longer experience in war fighting, Vlad has no problems with a war of attrition, something foreign to the collective West.
The US better start taking notes if they decide to overstep and take China on.
“collective West”
99 out of 100 people using that term are kacaps.
A totally predictable conflict wherever you have a mixture of regular army and mercenaries in the same campaign. It is the task of the high command and political authorities to keep those conflicts limited. Correct management will leave both sides unhappy, but still effective.
In his latest criticism, Prigozhin accused Shoigu of hobbling the Bakhmut offensive by not supplying his Wagner forces with enough ammunition.
Probably a valid complaint. Success for the mercenaries is a perceived failure for the regular army commanders and vice-versa. The political authorities have failed to properly manage the conflict else these complaints would never have been made in a public fashion.
The Wagner troops were being used as expendable ammunition in the Bakhmut campaign. They have run out of convicts to use in that role and are losing their more skilled fighters now. I believe the organization is being intentionally reduced so that it will not be seen as a potential threat to any of the poltical factions that control Russia.
If Bakhmut falls, the army will swoop in and claim the victory. If Bakhmut holds, the Wager group will take the blame.
Meh...a couple of Capos playing dozens.
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>>> You left out “don’t poke the bear”. <<<
I’ve never poked a bear but I did shoot one once. Put a .308 clean through its head and dropped it dead.
The point being that bears might scare some people but other people just kill them.
“collective West“
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Those using the term are astute. They did their research and found China, Russia, India, ME, SA and Brics make 65 percent of the worlds population- and do not support Vegetable Head’s failed sanctions, nor Ukraine. Russia has most everything they need, food, fertilizer, oil, gas, diesel, energy, metals, commodities, etc.
The collective West war cheerleaders are outnumbered, bodes not well for them.
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