The Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has already begun to move troops to Bakhmut, where he is preparing to occupy the positions that the Wagner Group mercenaries want to leave on Wednesday in the midst of a strong dispute with the military leadership that threatens the Russian president’s plan. Vladimir Putin, to exhibit the conquest of that Ukrainian city on Victory Day.
“Ajmat units are ready to move towards Bakhmiut. I have already signed a letter to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief about my readiness to take the city and clear it of NATO and Ukrainian satanists with the help of the forces of Ajmat units,” Kadyrov said today in a video on his Telegram channel.
He explained that his soldiers “are on alert” waiting for Putin’s order and that “several units have already left in the direction” of the front.
Wagner’s boss, Yevgueni Prigozhin, is already in contact with representatives of the Chechen leader to make the transfer of units effective at “24:00 local time on May 10”, the exact moment, he said, in which the mercenaries will exhaust “for full combat potential”, as he commented today on Telegram.
The businessman announced on Friday that his men will withdraw from Bakhmut on Wednesday because they only have 10% of the ammunition they need and are dying “senselessly” in this battle, which has lasted for more than nine months. According to his calculations, every day an average of one hundred fighters die.
Prigozhin also wrote a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu today, asking him to “issue an order” on “handing over the positions of the Wagner group to units of the Akhmat battalion in and around the town of Bakhmut.” .
Also known as “Putin’s chef” for his restaurant business, he trusted that Kadyrov could obtain the necessary ammunition from the Ministry of Defense to take over the city, where on Friday Russian troops allegedly used prohibited white phosphorous bombs, according to what he denounced. Ukraine. According to Prigozhin, “a little more than two square kilometers” remain to be conquered in the west of the city.
“I am sure that in the near future we will liberate the city, despite all that is said about a terrible counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” stressed the Chechen leader, whose special troops took Mariupol in the spring of 2022. alongside Russian forces and played a leading role in the conquest of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk last summer.
Russia’s goal was to conquer Bakhmut for next Tuesday, Prigozhin himself revealed the day before. Victory Day in Russia is celebrated on May 9, commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
That day Putin will lead a military parade on Red Square and deliver a speech, in which he wanted to announce the first Russian victory in ten months in Ukraine in order to instill courage in the troops and reaffirm the unity of the Russian people around the war. .
However, the conquest of Bakhmut for that day, taking into account the discouragement of Wagner’s mercenaries and the fact that they only advance between 100 and 200 meters every day in Bakhmut, now seems even more difficult with the logistics involved in carrying out a handover to the Chechens and an organized withdrawal of the Wagnerites.
Added to this is the fact that the Russians increasingly perceive the danger of the military campaign given the increase in acts of sabotage on Russian territory, drone attacks against fuel depots and the Kremlin, and assassination attempts like the one today against the popular nationalist writer Zajar Pripelin.
All these “terrorist attacks” are allegedly committed on the orders of Ukraine, according to Moscow. For all these reasons, the number of Russian cities that will not celebrate the military parade on May 9 is increasing every day. In total, six Russian regions, the annexed Crimea and 21 cities have already canceled their public events on that symbolic day for the Russians.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project