Chief Wagner claims that the front lines collapse on their withdrawal from Bakhmut

He also complains about the group’s lack of ammunition, according to a message on Telegram.

– If Wagner withdraws from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse. The situation will not be good for all military formations that defend Russian interests, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video.

Reuters was unable to determine the location and time of the video recording. The recording was posted over the weekend on a Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group.

On Friday, Prigozhin claimed his forces had effectively surrounded the city of Bakhmut, located in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. But on Sunday he complained that the ammunition promised by the Russian authorities had not been delivered to the Wagner Group.

– We’re trying to find the reason. He has stated on his Telegram channel, either it is just normal bureaucracy or treason.

He believed that the fall of Bakhmut would not change the course of the war

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin claims that Russia will have little strategic importance if Ukraine loses the Battle of Bakhmut.

– I think it has more symbolic meaning than strategic and operational value. Austin said during a visit to Jordan on Monday that the fall of Bakhmut does not necessarily mean that the Russians changed the course of the war.

Bakhmut is on the front line in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, and since this summer there has been a very bloody battle for control of the city.

At the end of the week, British intelligence reported that Russian forces were tightening their grip, and the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were being hard pressed.

Part of the goal of defending the city on the Ukrainian side should be to inflict as much loss on the Russian forces as possible before they can capture the city and gain a new springboard to continue the offensive westward into Donetsk.

Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian provinces now claimed by Russia as Russian territory.