The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner threatened on Friday to withdraw his troops next week from the city of Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, accusing the Russian general staff of depriving him of ammunition.
Letting his anger explode in several videos of rare virulence, businessman Evguéni Prigojine also blamed the high command for the "tens of thousands" of Russians killed and injured in Ukraine.
A withdrawal of Wagner from Bakhmout, where this organization is in the front line, would leave the Russian army in a delicate position, at a time when the Ukrainians say they are completing their preparations before a major offensive presented as imminent.
A sign that they anticipate an upcoming conflagration of the front, the authorities installed by Russia in areas it occupies in the south announced Friday the partial evacuation of 18 localities under their control.
Wagner's chief has for months accused the Russian general staff of not providing enough ammunition to his men to deprive them of a victory in Bakhmout which would overshadow the regular army, which suffered setbacks last year.
But, in three videos released Friday by his press service, Mr Prigozhin's attacks reach an unprecedented level, exposing the high tensions that exist within the forces of Moscow.
"On May 10, 2023, we will have to transfer our positions in Bakhmout to units of the Ministry of Defense and withdraw Wagner's elements to the rear to heal our wounds," he said.
Mr. Prigojine justifies this decision by his refusal to let "(his) guys, without ammunition, suffer unnecessary and unjustified losses".
If these statements take the form of an announcement, it could in fact be an ultimatum: the boss of Wagner is accustomed to hot statements and he sometimes backtracks.
In one of the videos, Mr. Prigozhin specifically accuses Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov of being responsible for "tens of thousands of killed and injured" in Ukraine.
"They will bear the responsibility for tens of thousands of killed and injured in front of their mothers and children," he said.
The charge against the general staff had started with a first macabre video posted online overnight from Thursday to Friday, in which we see Mr. Prigojine wandering among dozens of corpses lined up on the ground.
"These guys are from Wagner. They're dead today, their blood is still hot (...) They died so you could fatten up in your offices!" he exclaims, his face distorted by rage.
"You sit in your overpriced clubs and your kids enjoy life, make videos on YouTube!" he continues, hurling insults. "Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where are my fucking shells?!" thunders Mr. Prigozhin.
Asked by the press about these tensions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that he had "seen the declarations" of the head of Wagner but refused to comment on them.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense acted as if nothing had happened in its daily bulletin, laconically evoking the "offensives" of the men of this paramilitary group in Bakhmout, "supported" by "airborne units" of the regular army.
The Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, accustomed to offensive diatribes on the conflict, called on Telegram the Russian general staff to "go" to Bakhmout "and settle things" to "get out of this situation".
As tensions come to light, on the ground, fighting continues.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar, Russia hopes to conquer Bakhmut by Tuesday, the day it celebrates victory over Nazi Germany with great fanfare in a grand celebration of patriotic exaltation.
Ms Maliar believes Moscow's new tactic is to "remove men from Wagner" and "replace them with parachute assault units" from the army.
Be that as it may, these disagreements are resurfacing at a time when kyiv claims to be preparing to make an imminent attempt to reconquer the occupied territories.
Faced with "the increase (in the number) of Ukrainian bombardments", the authorities installed by Russia in the areas it occupies in the southern region of Zaporizhia announced the evacuation of 70,000 people from 18 localities.
Analysts cite Zaporijjia as a possible theater for the major offensive announced for weeks by kyiv.
Thousands of kilometers from the battlefield, during a trip to India, the head of Russian diplomacy once again accused the United States of being linked to an alleged attack by Ukrainian drones against the Kremlin that Moscow claims to have foiled on Wednesday.
"The ability of our Ukrainian and Western friends to lie is very well known," Sergei Lavrov said, sweeping aside denials from kyiv and Washington.
The dome of the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, damaged on Wednesday by the fall of a drone during the alleged attack, has also been restored, the Russian presidency said in the evening, quoted by press agencies.
This incident, unprecedented since the beginning of the Russian offensive, is part of a worrying context for Moscow of the multiplication of attacks of this kind.
On Friday, a new fire broke out in an oil refinery targeted by a drone in a region near Ukraine, according to the relief quoted by the TASS news agency.
05/05/2023 22:27:16 - Moscow (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
