Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian invasion is under way, claiming that Ukrainian armed forces plan to move further to the north and south if they take control of Bakhmut, the city in the eastern Donetsck region that has been an epicenter of heavy fighting for months.
Prigozhin issued his audio statement on May 11 on Telegram shortly after the BBC published an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he said his armed forces need more time to get ready for the counteroffensive.
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Prigozhin accused Zelenskiy of "double-crossing" and said the counteroffensive is in "full swing." In the area of Bakhmut, he said Ukrainian armed forces "are hitting our flanks and, unfortunately, in some places they are being successful."
He said that if Ukrainian units take Bakhmut, they will move further to attack Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region and Russia's Bryansk and Belgorod regions bordering Ukraine.
"Therefore, Ukraine's offensive has begun. All [Ukrainian units] that have gone through trainings and received all necessary weapons, equipment, the tanks, and all the rest have been fully involved in the military actions," Prigozhin said. He again lambasted the Russian Defense Ministry for what he called a reluctance to provide Wagner troops with necessary ammunition.
"Wagner continues to carry out military missions in a horrible deficiency of shells, ammunition hunger, because all promises by the Defense Ministry have not been met," Prigozhin emphasized, adding that he would at a later point elaborate on how his troops manage to fight without ammunition.
Both Ukraine and Russia's Defense Ministry have yet to confirm or deny Prigozhin's comments.
Russia has suffered about 200,000 casualties during the 14-month war, according to Western estimates, and continues to lose dozens a day in Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been trying to take since last summer.