Wagner group says it will stay in Bakmut after Russia promises ammunition

Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had threatened to pull out in expletive-laden videos

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin addressing Russian army leader standing in front of bodies he said were fallen Wagner fighters at an undisclosed location. AFP

The head of the Wagner mercenary group said on Sunday that Russia had promised enough ammunition for it to stay in the ruined Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his units would be pulling out on Wednesday because they had no ammunition and could die needlessly.

For months, Mr Prigozhin has accused the conventional army of refusing to deliver ammunition to his men during the battle for the devastated eastern city, where Wagner is leading the assault.

“Overnight we received a combat order … they promised to give us all the ammunition and armaments we need to continue the operations” in Bakhmut, Mr Prigozhin said on Sunday.

He said his group has been promised that “everything necessary will be provided”.

He blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for “tens of thousands” of Russian casualties in a series of profanity-laced videos on Friday.

“Their unprofessionalism is destroying tens of thousands of Russian guys and that is unforgivable,” he said.

The internal row comes as Russia has reported increasing drone strikes and sabotage inside its territory ahead of an expected spring counteroffensive from Ukraine.

Ukraine also reported casualties early Monday morning from fresh Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least four people in two separate districts had been injured in the drone attack, while the city's military administration reported that suspected falling debris had also hit a two-storey building, with information on potential victims still “being clarified”.

In Odesa, the district military administration reported an air strike hitting a warehouse. “There has not been any information about victims,” it added.

In one of his previous video broadsides against the Russian army, Mr Prigozhin stood before what he said were rows of dead Wagner fighters.

“They came here as volunteers and they are dying so you can get fat in your wood-panelled offices,” he said.

On Saturday, he asked Moscow to let him hand over his positions to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who had said that his forces were “ready to move” towards Bakhmut.

The language used in Friday's videos and the ferocity of his attack on the leaders of Russia's campaign in Ukraine were unprecedented.

On Sunday, Mr Prigozhin said Russian General Sergei Surovikin, one of Mr Gerasimov's deputies, would oversee Wagner's operations.

“He is the only decorated general that knows how to fight,” Mr Prigozhin said in fresh criticism of Russia's other army chiefs.

Russian troops have battled since last summer to capture Bakhmut, the political importance of which has come to surpass any strategic value.

On Saturday, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, visited the eastern front.

“The enemy is not going to change its plans and is doing everything possible to take control of Bakhmut,” Mr Syrsky said on Sunday.

Ukraine has been gearing up for a counteroffensive, with some experts suggesting that the drone strikes and acts of sabotage on Russian-held territory are part of its preparations.

The strikes precede Russia's May 9 public holiday, a central event under President Vladimir Putin that celebrates the Soviet victory over the Nazis in the Second World War.

On Sunday, the Russian army said it had repelled 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea.

Shortly before, authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea, surrounded by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, said they had downed more than 10 drones over the southern peninsula.

The Russian security services also said they thwarted a drone attack on an airfield in the Ivanovo region.

As the counteroffensive looms, Moscow has ordered families with children and elderly members to temporarily evacuate a slew of Russian-held areas in southern Ukraine.

More than 1,500 people have been evacuated, including 632 minors, the governor of the southern Zaporizhzhia region said Sunday.