“If Wagner withdraws from Bakhmut now, the entire front will collapse,” warned the head of the mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin in a nearly four-minute video.
“Then the following situation will happen. It is clear that the front will collapse – it will collapse to the Russian borders, perhaps even further. In general, the situation will be unpleasant for all military formations protecting the interests of Russia”.
Kiev: Russia claims 500 killed and wounded per day in fighting for Bakhmut
According to Prigozhin, who announced yesterday that his fighters had almost surrounded the Ukrainian city, if they were to withdraw from Bakhmut, the Russian army would be “forced to stabilize the front” while “Crimea falls” and there would be “many other upheavals”.
Prigozhin explained that there will be a “spring effect” – the Ukrainian army will break through from all sides to the territory of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, sweep Luhansk and Sorokino and enter Russia, then retake Crimea, and the military command will blame “Wagner “.
Suspecting that the mercenary group could become a scapegoat if Russia loses the war in Ukraine, Prigozhin stressed that his fighters “know exactly who to blame for treason”.
“Wagner”: Bachmut is practically surrounded
“They’re going to come and say, ‘Boss, is it possible that this story is being spun somewhere deep in the Defense Department, or maybe higher up, to explain to the Russian people why we’re in such trouble?’ What if they want to frame us and say that we are villains and that’s why they don’t give us ammunition and weapons and don’t allow us to reinforce the personnel?”.
With the message that “Wagner” and not the regular Russian army bore the brunt of the fighting, Prigozhin described his mercenaries as the “cement” holding the entire war effort together “at the very top.”
The video appeared online late in the evening of March 4 in Ukrainian media. It is not yet known when and where it was recorded. It was not published by Prigozhin’s press office.
Prigozhin began to sadly predict Russian defeats – “If today Wagner retreats from Bakhmut, whole frontline will crumble”.
He panics about “ammunition famine” and threatens that if Wagner is forced to retreat, flanks break, whole Luhansk region & Crimea will be surrendered etc. pic.twitter.com/89pOKSrHcf
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 5, 2023
