According to documents shared by his communications service at the end of February, Prigozhin would be short of ammunition by no less than 70 percent at that time. He now shows undisguised what that shortcoming does: during his diatribe – according to some analysts an outright declaration of war against General Valeri Gerasimov, the boss of the Russian General Staff, and the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu – he shows the bloodied bodies of dozens of fallen Wagner fighters.
“Look at them, you bastards! You are in expensive clubs, your children are making YouTube videos and you think you have the right to control their lives… They came here as volunteers and died so that you can fatten yourself in your offices”, he fulminates, white-hot with fury. “Gerasimov, Shoigu: where’s the bloody ammunition?!”
According to Prigozhin, Wagner would lose at least eighty men a day in the besieged city of Bachmut. With sufficient ammunition, the mercenary army would suffer at least five times fewer losses, according to the Wagner boss.
At the end of last month, Prigozhin threatened to withdraw all his troops from the besieged city of Bachmut. That Ukrainian city has been under attack for months by Russian soldiers and the Wagner mercenary force. The Russians say they control about 85 percent of the city’s territory. Ukraine refuses to give up the now largely destroyed city, because the battle for Bachmut leads to major losses on the Russian side.
That he means business is evident from the frankly aggressive style of Prigozhin’s video, which oozes anger. The Wagner boss has often criticized the Russian army leadership, but according to analysts has never done so directly, personally and openly. In that light, the recruitment of the recently dismissed Russian Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Mizintsev, better known as the ‘Executioner of Mariupol’, as Wagner’s new deputy commander is an open middle finger to the Russian army. Before he fell from grace, Mizintsev was one of the few in the army who still listened to Wagner’s needs.
In a video also shared by Prigozhin, Mizintsev appears with Wagner badges on his clothing at the side of Wagner commander Anton Elizarov to discuss tactics.