The chief of the Wagner mercenary group has claimed Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is lying to President Vladimir Putin about ‘colossal’ battlefield failures in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, an outspoken critic of the Russian army, said Shoigu is not telling Putin about the ‘thousands of destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles’ littering the streets of the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
He claimed Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian army, are bringing ‘total c**p’ to Putin’s desk and are refusing to tell the despot there are ‘colossal problems’ in Bakhmut.
Russia has repeatedly claimed Kyiv’s counteroffensive is ‘failing’ and Russian troops have inflicted severe casualties on Ukrainian forces.
But retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, a former commander of the US Army Europe, said that any reports that Ukrainian troops are ‘failing’ on the battlefield and have been forced to stop their counter-offensive is ‘utter nonsense’.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, an outspoken critic of the Russian army and its commanders, said Shoigu is not telling Putin about the ‘thousands of destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles’ littering the streets of the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut
Ukrainian artillery batteries fire on the frontline as clashes continue near villages recaptured by the Ukrainian army in Donetsk, Ukraine on June 21
Prigozhin has claimed Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured in the Kremlin on 21 June) is lying to President Vladimir Putin about ‘colossal’ battlefield failures in Ukraine
Hodges pointed to how Commander-in-Chief General Vallerii Zaluzhnyi ‘has, from the very beginning, been very disciplined about protecting information’ from the front lines about any battleground success.
‘And so, when I read reports saying this [Ukrainian counteroffensive] is a failure, they’re having to stop – this is utter nonsense,’ Hodges told Newsweek.
‘Because you couldn’t declare a failure more than you could declare victory based on what we are able to see,’ the former commander explained.
Prigozhin, whose mercenary troops have spent months fighting in Bakhmut on behalf of the Kremlin, also dismissed Russia’s claims that the army had inflicted heavy losses and the Ukrainian counteroffensive was failing.
The Wagner boss said his claims about Ukrainian advances in the Zaporizhzhia region hasn’t been reflected by the Russian Defence Ministry or the Kremlin because Shoigu is lying to Putin about Russia’s ‘colossal’ battlefield failures.
‘I’ll explain why [my words] differ [from the official data],’ Prigozhin said in an audio message, according to Newsweek. ‘Because they are bringing total c**p to the president’s desk, [it’s] shameless.
‘When we took Bakhmut, we let all military correspondents go there, you remember this well, so that they see the real state of affairs. No one talks about the thousands of destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles.
‘They don’t let anyone there [in Bakhmut], they don’t show anything precisely because there are colossal problems there.’
Prigozhin added: ‘Shoigu and Gerasimov have a simple approach: a lie needs to be monstrous to be believed in. This is what they do.’
Prigozhin’s latest rant came after he slammed claims by the Russian defence ministry it had killed 1,500 of Kyiv’s soldiers in two days in the embattled city of Bakhmut as ‘absurd science fiction’.
A Ukrainian MSLR BM-21 “Grad” fires towards Russian positions, near Bakhmut at the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 21
Prigozhin claimed Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian army, are bringing ‘total c**p’ to Putin’s desk and are refusing to tell the despot there are ‘colossal problems’ in Bakhmut.
Russia’s defence ministry had claimed earlier this month that Russian forces had repelled two major offensives in South Donetsk.
It claimed to have killed 1,500 troops and destroyed among other military equipment, eight main battle Leopard tanks supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies and 109 armoured vehicles.
‘Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades into separate consolidated units, which continued offensive operations,’ the ministry said on Telegram.
‘A complex fire defeat was inflicted by army forces, assault and operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrower systems.’
But this was quickly, and very publicly, doubted by Prigozhin, who has repeatedly lambasted senior officials in the Kremlin, the Russian Army and Vladimir Putin himself for perceived missteps in the war effort.
In remarks published on the Telegram channel of his press service, the 61-year-old said to kill that many Ukrainian troops would require daily gains of 150km (93 miles).
‘I therefore believe that this is simply wild and absurd science fiction,’ said Prigozhin.
Totting up the figures provided by the ministry would imply ‘we have already destroyed the entire planet five times over,’ he added sarcastically.
And last week, Prigozhin resisted an attempt by Shoigu to take control of its ranks. The Wagner chief said his fighters would not sign any contract with the Defence Minister, publicly defying what appear to be efforts to rein in his influence.
Prigozhin has repeatedly attacked Shoigu for what he casts as treachery, slamming him for failing to fight the war in Ukraine properly and taunting him about coming to the frontline.
Tensions with Moscow were ratcheted up when mercenaries kidnapped a frontline Russian general earlier this week, who admitted in a humiliating video to being drunk on duty after allegedly firing on a Wagner vehicle.
Russian Lt-Colonel Roman Venevitin claimed Wagner forces, who are supposed to be on Russia’s side in the war, kidnapped Russian soldiers before torturing and raping them
A video later emerged which showed the general, Roman Venevitin, accusing Wagner of torturing Putin’s soldiers and Prigozhin of discrediting the army – a crime which could see him jailed.
In the video from earlier this month, which was reportedly orchestrated by Russian military leaders after Venevitin was released, Venevitin said of Prigozhin: ‘You are engaged in active discrediting of the Russian armed forces.
‘I [am speaking] to convey to the Russian public the truth about what happened, to tell some facts about the so-called Wagner,’ he said. ‘Honour requires me to do this.’
This allegation, which Venevitin appears to read from a script, hints that the authorities are attempting to disempower Prigozhin, who slammed the allegations about his troops’ violence towards Russian ranks as ‘absolute nonsense’.
Russia’s defence ministry has since urged all ‘volunteer detachments’ to sign contracts with the defence ministry by the end of the month, a step it said would increase the effectiveness of the Russian army.
Though the ministry did not mention Wagner by name in its public statement, the Russian media reported that it was an attempt by Shoigu to bring the mercenaries to heel.
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