Another day of bloody Russian-Ukrainian fighting as the Russian special operation in Ukraine continues today, Friday. The Russian army is trying to control more Ukrainian regions, while Kyiv is trying to resist Russian forces and reclaim its lands with military and logistical support from the West.
In connection with recent events, as well as in connection with the fighting and street fighting raging in Bakhmut, the founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, made fiery statements accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov of being involved in a significant shortage of arms supplies to the group , which, according to Prigogine’s description, was 70%.
Prigozhin’s press service published a video on Telegram, in which the latter appears extremely dissatisfied with the situation and talks to a group of corpses of his fighters behind his back.
The founder of Wagner said: “These young Wagner fighters are killed today.. Their blood is still hot.. Listen to me carefully: These fighters are the sons of families or fathers.. We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. .. Shoigu.. Gerasimov .. Where are my supplies?
A day earlier, Prigozhin said he believed the promised Ukrainian counter-offensive had already begun, adding that his forces were seeing increased activity at the front.
In an audio message posted by his press office on social media, Prigozhin said the “active phase” of the counterattack would begin in the coming days.
The Kiev government has long promised to launch a counter-offensive to retake the territory Russia annexed in the east of the country after its invasion in February 2022.
“I think the offensive of the Ukrainian army has already begun,” Prigozhin said. “Therefore, I think that everything has already begun. And I think that all this will enter an active phase in the very near future. It could be in a matter of days,” he added.
He later said his troops advanced 230 meters in the fighting that engulfed the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The ruined city of 70,000 has been under siege for almost ten months. He added that Ukrainian forces are now limited to the city’s territory of just 2.64 square kilometers.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense published the results of its military operations over the past day in various areas of hostilities. “In the Donetsk direction, the strike units took control of two (new) microdistricts and continued their offensive in the western part of the city of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut),” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing.
The military representative added: “The strikes were carried out by the fire of operational-tactical aviation, army aviation and artillery of the Southern Group of Forces, the 60th, 93rd and 54th rifle brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Krasnoye area, the southwestern suburbs of Artemovsk and Grigorievka.”
