Russia-Ukraine war: Wagner boss doubles down on feud with Russian military leadership

The leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary group doubled down on his feud with Russia’s top military leaders this week. The Wagner chief sought to further call out the Russian military leadership by posting photos of dead Wagner fighters.

Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin escalated the feud with Russian military leadership on Wednesday, posting a photo of dozens of dead Wagner fighters. Prigozhin published the photo saying that dozens of Wagner fighters were killed as they were deprived of the ammunition needed. Prigozhin has repeatedly accused the Russian defense ministry of deliberately depriving Wagner fighters of munitions which Prigozhin called a treasonous attempt to destroy the private paramilitary group.

The defense ministry called Prigozhin’s allegations “completely untrue” and, without mentioning Prigozhin, mentioned attempts to create infighting that worked for the “benefit of the enemy.”

However, Prigozhin doubled down on his assertions, releasing photos of dozens of Wagner fighters that were killed in eastern Ukraine, where Wagner is trying to capture the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

“This is one of the places where the bodies of those who have died are gathered,” said Prigozhin during an interview with a Russian military blogger. “These are guys who died yesterday because of so-called shell hunger. Mothers, wives, and children will get their bodies. There should be five times less. Who is guilty that they died? The guilty ones are those who should have resolved this question of us getting enough ammo.”

Prigozhin also went on to release a copy of what he alleged was Wagner’s official request to the Russian defense ministry for ammunition with detailed tallies of the shells used, requested, and received. However, Prigozhin noted that he blanked out sensitive data such as the names of the shells.

By Thursday, Prigozhin said that Moscow had agreed to provide Wagner fighters with the much-needed ammunition. In an audio clip, Prigozhin said he felt the pressure he put on the Russian military leadership paid off and was told that Moscow was sending ammunition.

Wagner has become a more prominent group since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. However, in recent weeks, there have been signs that Moscow is trying to curb Prigozhin’s growing influence.