WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT The head of Russia's Wagner mercenaries announced a pull-out of forces from Bakhmut. But Ukraine says Wagner is redeploying forces to seize the city before Russia marks victory on World War Two day next week
Prigozhin said they would withdraw on May 10 - ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war - because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place.
The Kremlin declined to comment and there was no immediate reaction from the defence ministry, which said the offensive on Bakhmut continued with paratroopers supporting assault units as a Ukrainian officialBakhmut, a city of 70,000 people before the start of the war, has taken on huge symbolic importance for both sides because of the sheer intensity and duration of the fighting there.
Earlier on Friday he appeared in a video surrounded by dozens of corpses he said were Wagner fighters, and was shown yelling and swearing at Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov with whom he has a long-running feud. Vladimir Pastukhov, a political analyst, said Prigozhin's behaviour looked like an attempt to pin the blame for Russia's setbacks and losses in Ukraine on Shoigu.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer designated "a foreign agent" by Russia, said he thought that Putin would have to intervene in the Prigozhin standoff to show he was decisive as such episodes could become destabilising. Rob Lee, a U.S. military expert on Russia, said he thought the Russian defence ministry may have decided to ration ammunition ahead of Ukraine's counter-offensive as it had to ensure the entire front was defended while Prigozhin "only cares about taking Bakhmut."
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