Russian frontline on verge of ‘collapse’ if Wagner troops are forced to retreat

Yevgeny Prigozhin (inset) has accused the Kremlin of starving the Wagner Group of supplies (Picture: AP)

The leader of Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries in Ukraine has warned the entire front line will ‘crumble’ if his troops are forced to retreat.

Yevgeny Prigozhin – whose recruits have spent months battling to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut – has accused the Kremlin’s defence ministry of starving his forces of supplies.

He complained ammunition promised by the military was days late in arriving in a video posted on social media on Sunday.

‘We are trying to understand what the reasons are – bureaucracy or betrayal,’ he said.

Prigozhin said his representative had been denied access to Russian military command HQ in Ukraine today, sparking speculation of a deepening rift.

He spoke out as British intelligence officials revealed how Russian forces are resorting to using shovels as weapons due to an ammunition shortage.

Both Kyiv and Moscow are said to be trying to exhaust each other to limit their opponent’s ability to mount a further offensive.

Ukraine is ‘likely conducting a limited tactical withdrawal in Bakhmut’, analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.

However, ‘it is still too early to assess Ukrainian intentions concerning a complete withdrawal from the city’, they added.

The leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin

Kyiv said today that its troops were still holding out in what it described as a “hellish” fight for Bakhmut.

And Washington said that even if the city does fall, it will not necessarily give Moscow any momentum.

The battle to seize Bakhmut has become one of the bloodiest since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine more than a year ago.

Ukrainian troops say it is too dangerous to leave in vehicles, with civilians forced to flee on foot.

One woman was killed and two men wounded by shelling while trying to cross a pontoon bridge out of the battered city.

Prigozhin said on Friday that his units had ‘practically surrounded Bakhmut’ – but personnel and ammunition shortages could see his troops lose control of captured territory.

‘If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse,’ he is believed to have said in a video shared on Telegram.

‘The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests.’

In another video, he said ‘the entire front will crumble’ if his forces withdraw.

Disturbing images show how the Ukrainian city of Marinka has been reduced to rubble by Vladimir Putin’s army.

But the Kremlin warned that, while it is open to talks to end the conflict, Russia will ‘never give up the land’ it has seized in Ukraine.

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The leader of the mercenary group says they have been deprived of supplies, amid speculation of a deepening rift with Moscow.