Prigozhin Says Wagner Group Getting As Much Ammo 'As We Need' for Bakhmut

Wagner Group mercenary forces fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut will receive new ammunition supplies after the group's leader said its fighters would withdraw from the key settlement, according to new reports.

In a statement posted to Telegram, which was then picked up by Russian state media, Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday that the mercenary fighters would receive "as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue hostilities."

The Wagner paramilitary outfit has led Russia's assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut for months – a battle racking up heavy losses on both sides and labeled a slaughter-fest for the Russians". However, Prigozhin, a long-time associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly and publicly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry and the country's military command for what he called scarce ammunition supplies.

He has previously accused the Russian Defense Ministry and the top Russian military commanders of "high treason" and of attempting to "destroy" the Wagner Group. The Russian billionaire has railed against "shell hunger," or a shortage of munitions provided to the Wagner fighters on the front line.

On Saturday, Prigozhin said in a statement that at midnight on May 10, Wagner forces would be relieved by Chechen special forces, which is "the moment when, according to our calculations, we will completely exhaust our combat potential."

Writing on Telegram, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said his fighters were "ready to advance" to Bakhmut, and that he had written to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The soldiers are on alert, we are just waiting for orders," he wrote, adding that he had "already begun to develop our strategy of action" with the Russian Defense Ministry.

In April, Prigozhin threatened to withdraw his fighters from Bakhmut, with the troops soon needing to "withdraw in an organized manner or stay and die."

"We are patriots and we will go to Bakhmut while we have the last cartridge, but these cartridges are left not for weeks, but for days," the Wagner head added in the translated excerpt posted to social media.

In a separate statement posted by Prigozhin's press account on Saturday, the Russian oligarch said that the Russian Defense Ministry was "countering" the Wagner forces "to compensate for their failures, due to envy."

He said that "shell hunger" had been "artificially created," adding Wagner forces had lost their combat potential after months of fighting in the "Bakhmut meat grinder."

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Update 05/07/2023 at 6.15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.