Units of the Chechen special forces “Akhmat” are ready to go to Artemovsk (Ukrainian name – Bakhmut), said the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier announced the withdrawal of Wagner PMC units from the city, asked Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to give the appropriate order and announced his readiness to transfer positions to Akhmat. In mid-April, the DPR authorities claimed that Russian forces controlled 90% of Artemivsk.
Kadyrov said that he had sent a letter to the Supreme Commander about the readiness of the Chechen special forces to “return the city and clear it of NATO and Ukrainian Satanists.” “I am sure that in the near future we will liberate the city, despite all sorts of stuff about some kind of terrible counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the head of Chechnya believes.
According to Kadyrov, together with the Ministry of Defense, the development of an action strategy in Artemovsk has already begun, taking into account the tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the resources they have.
Prigozhin explained the withdrawal of Wagner PMC forces, scheduled for May 10, by saying that “in the absence of ammunition, they are doomed to a senseless death.” A private military company, according to the businessman, received no more than 30% of the required amount of shells, and now it receives no more than 10%. In early May, the Ministry of Defense stated that enough ammunition had been delivered to the army.
Prigozhin reported that he was contacting Kadyrov’s representatives to convey positions. “A little more than 2 square meters are left in Bakhmut. km. Bakhmut will be taken, no doubt, by the forces of “Akhmat,” he pointed out.
The Kremlin declined to comment on Prigozhin’s statement about the withdrawal of Wagner PMC from Artemovsk. The Ministry of Defense did not comment on this either.
Kadyrov published an appeal to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner PMC.
“It is unpleasant for me, as for everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of our country, to hear the latest statements of Yevgeny Viktorovich and it is doubly unpleasant that the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense does not comment or does not meet with the leadership of Wagner PMC to make any decision or explanation,” he wrote. .
If there really is a shortage of ammunition, Kadyrov said, it is necessary to explain, show, on the basis of which the further tactics of Wagner PMC “will at least be corrected.” He mentioned the experience of the Chechen units in Mariupol, when only one of the required five tanks was provided. There were, according to Kadyrov, “problems with other equipment.”
“I personally called Moscow, talked with the commanders, commanders, superiors. A month later the problem was solved. Yes, it didn’t work on the first call. But our units did not record videos, they did not give a pleasant informational occasion to the enemy, ”he said.