A repainted mural depicting the logo of Russia’s Wagner Group on a wall in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 19, 2023.
Darko Vojinovic | AP
The war in Ukraine looks to have created deep and lasting tensions between Russia’s leadership in Moscow and its mercenary fighters on the ground, with acrimony between the two descending into openly hostile criticism and accusations of treachery this week.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner Group, a private military company whose fighters have been engaged in intense battles in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine for months, could barely contain his rage on Tuesday when he lambasted Russia’s military and political leadership, saying that promised supplies of ammunition for his mercenary fighters had still not been delivered.
The latest rant came after Prigozhin threatened last Saturday to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut if ammunition was not forthcoming — but the next day he withdrew the threat, saying he had received a promise that ammunition was on its way.
By Tuesday, however, Prigozhin was back on social media platform Telegram, delivering a stinging rebuke to Moscow on Victory Day, when Russia commemorates the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany, over a lack of ammunition deliveries.
“On the 7th, we were promised that ammunition would be given. At night on the 8th, a combat order was received saying [we should be given] everything. Today is the 9th. On the 8th during the day there was a meeting at which they decided to only give 10% of what we requested,” he said, adding that the Wagner Group had been “deceived.”
Prigozhin said his mercenary forces, making up the bulk of Russians fighting to seize Bakhmut, would remain there for a “few more days” to see if the situation would change. He noted, however, that he had been warned in a combat order that if the Wagner Group left its positions in Bakhmut, “it would be regarded as treason against the motherland.”
He thundered back that “if there is no ammunition, we will leave the…
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