Russian officials plan to send the Wagner mercenary group enough weapons and ammunition to continue fighting in Ukraine’s Bakhmut, the group’s leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin said Sunday. In an audio clip posted to Telegram, Prigozhin appeared to distance himself from previous threats he made to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut if Moscow was unwilling to provide greater support.
“We are promised to be given ammunition and weapons as much as we need to continue further actions,” Prigozhin said, adding that he had been granted the power to fight “as we see fit.”
The dispute among pro-Russian forces in Bakhmut is a flash point in the broader rift between Wagner and Russia’s Defense Ministry — one that has increasingly played out in public in recent months.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Senior Ukrainian officials fear counterattack may not live up to hype: Ukraine is readying a much anticipated spring assault to seize back territory occupied by Russia. But senior leaders are worried the advance buildup — aimed at tilting the war in Kyiv’s favor — won’t live up to expectations, write The Post’s Siobhán O’Grady, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Laris Karklis and Samuel Granados.
“The expectation from our counteroffensive campaign is overestimated in the world,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview last week. “Most people are … waiting for something huge,” he added, which he fears may lead to “emotional disappointment.”
Rachel Pannett
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