Posted on 05/05/2023 4:46:36 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia's Wagner Group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would pull out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying in vain to capture since last summer.
Prigozhin said they would withdraw on May 10 - ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war - because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place.
"I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds," Prigozhin said in a statement.
"I'm pulling Wagner units out of Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they're doomed to perish senselessly."
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Prigo wants to blame Shoigu and Gerasimov for not taking Bakhmut by May 9. And Shoigu and Gerasimov want to blame Prigo.
Russians starting their first stage of goodwill gestures in occupied Zaporizhzhia.
So is Prigozhin:
1) maximizing leverage with his Russian client, by threatening to pull out right when the Ukrainains start their offensive?
2) trying to sucker the Ukrainians into interpreting Russian troop buildups as “replacement” of Wagner troops that aren’t really leaving? (Or at least muddying up their planning with uncertainty.) And maybe all the talk about inadequate ammunition isn’t strictly true.
3) so honest that he feels that he should announce his troop movements, just to be fair to his enemies?
A'int auto correct a beach?
At one time weren’t they fighting over who had already conquered the town?
He could run for the Senate from Pennsylvania
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