March 6 (Reuters) – Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his deputy was denied access to the headquarters of Russia’s military command in Ukraine on Monday, in a further deepening of his split with the establishment. defense.
Prigozhin said the incident occurred a day after he urgently requested ammunition supplies from the commander of what Russia calls a “special military operation” (SMO).
“On March 5, I wrote a letter to the SMO group commander about the urgent need to allocate ammunition. On March 6, at 8 a.m., my representative at the headquarters canceled his pass and denied the release access,” Prigozhin said through his Telegram press service.
Since mid-January, Russia’s campaign in Ukraine has been personally directed by the chief of the general staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov.
Prigozhin’s private militia, Wagner, has led much of the heaviest fighting for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but he has complained bitterly for weeks that the military leadership downplayed its contribution.
In a video published over the weekend, he repeated earlier complaints that his men were being deprived of ammunition.
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“If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse,” Prigozhin said in the video, which was apparently filmed in a bunker. “The situation is not sweet for all military formations that protect the interests of Russia.”
Reuters could not independently verify when and where the video, which was not published on Prigozhin’s usual Telegram channel, was recorded. A prominent critic of the mercenary boss said, without providing evidence, that it was two weeks old.
Prigozhin said on Friday that his units “practically surrounded Bakhmut”, where fighting intensified last week after months of attritional warfare, with Russian forces attacking from three sides.
In a statement on Monday, he said: “We continue to crush the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut.”
Writing by Mark Trevelyan, additional reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Kevin Liffey
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