The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force warned that the country could face a 1917-like revolution if its leadership does not improve its handling of the Ukraine war, pointing to the social disparity underlined by the conflict while 20,000 of the group's fighters have been killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The statement came as Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that the mercenary force led by him will transfer its positions in Bakhmut to the Russian military by the beginning of June.
"We are withdrawing units from Bakhmut today. We are handing over positions to the military, ammunition, and everything," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released on social media, as per news agency AFP.
According to The Guardian's report, Prigozhin pointed to the social disparity underlined by the war as he said that the sons of the poor were sent back from the front in zinc coffins while the children of the elite “shook their arses” in the sun.
20% of the 50,000 convicts the mercenary force had recruited, and a similar number of its regular troops, had been killed over several months in the fight for Bakhmut, he said.
“This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution,” he said in an interview posted on his channel on the messaging app Telegram, as per The Guardian's report. “First the soldiers will stand up, and after that – their loved ones will rise up. There are already tens of thousands of them – relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands – we cannot avoid that,” he added.
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Prigozhin Calls Himself ‘Putin’s Butcher’, Says Wagner Group Will Transfer Its Positions In Bakhmut To Army
Prigozhin is called “Putin’s chef” because he once provided catering services to the Russian leader, but according to the Wagner group chief, “Putin’s butcher” would be a more befitting nickname.
According to the report, Prigozhin claimed that his men now controlled all of Bakhmut, a claim disputed by the Ukraine government that insists it still has a foothold in the ruined Donbas city.
Wagner would pull out at the beginning of next month, Prigozhin said. "Wagner will leave Artemovsk from 25 May to 1 June," Prigozhin said in an audio recording on Telegram, as reported by the BBC.
Bakhmut is now said to be of little strategic value to Russia, but its capture can be a symbolic victory for Moscow after the longest battle of the war in Ukraine so far.
Wagner mercenaries targetted the city for months and their relentless, costly tactic of sending in waves of men seems to have gradually eroded Kyiv's defence.
Bakhmut was previously known as Artemovsk, in honour of a Soviet revolutionary, before it was renamed by Ukraine.