Humiliation for Putin: Russian army unit flees Bakhmut on same day Moscow holds scaled-down Victory Day parade
10 May 2023, 12:13 | Updated: 10 May 2023, 12:44
Russian forces have been accused of fleeing in disgrace from the bloodbath they are wreaking on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
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The boss of the notorious Wagner Group of mercenaries accused a regular army unit of abandoning their position and causing the deaths of 500 of his fighters.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose troops - many recruited from jail - have been throwing themselves into human wave attacks to dislodge Ukrainian defenders, said the 72nd Motorised Rifle Brigade ran away on Russia's Victory Day on May 9.
"Everyone ran away and exposed a front almost two kilometres wide and 500 metres deep," he said.
And in an audio rant, he even appeared to take aim at Putin, abandoning his past aversion to criticising the president directly.
"And the happy grandfather thinks that he is good. If he turns out to be right then may God grant everyone health," Prigozhin said.
"But what will the country do, our children, grandchildren who are the future of Russia, and how can we win this war if - by chance, and I'm just speculating here - it turns out that this grandfather is a complete ****head?."
The Armed Forces of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade posted an image of fighters running over a shell-hole scarred field on Telegram and said: "Prigozhin's report about the escape of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces from the vicinities of Bakhmut and the "500 corpses" of Russians who remained there is true.
"The 3rd Assault Brigade is grateful for the publicity of our success at the front."
The retreat happened on same day Putin held the annual Victory Day parade commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Read more: Ukraine accuses Russia of using phosphorous bombs in bid 'to destroy' Bakhmut
Putin was mocked for the display, which usually features a massive military parade. This year, with losses piling up in his failing invasion and fears about security in the wake of the drone attack on the Kremlin, just one Second World War-era tank rolled out on Red Square.
Prigozhin, whose catering for the Russian president led to his moniker "Putin's chef", is one of the most vocal figures in the war.
Some critics have suggested the Kremlin has been happy to play him and his mercenaries off against the regular Russian army and defence ministry in the hope it will get results on the battlefield.
Prigozhin's outburst about the fleeing Russian troops and Putin follows his U-turn on a pledge to withdraw from Bakhmut. He said Wagner would leave if he did not get the ammunition he had demanded from the defence ministry, but later said his fighters will remain on the battlefield.
Bakhmut has been devastated in Russia's slow attempt to capture it, with Ukraine bogging down the invaders and inflicting heavy casualties.
Wagner losses are thought to be very high, and the company appears determined to take the credit for advances made into the city.
Western intelligence agencies estimate overall Russian losses to be between 20,000 and 30,000, while Ukraine is also thought to have suffered badly.
Prigozhin appears to be willing to use any success in the campaign to bolster his own reputation and there is suspicion from some observers as to whether he has eyes on succeeding Putin. He regularly appears in videos from the area.
Mercenary deaths allow the Kremlin to avoid losing even more of its own regular troops.
However, despite Prigozhin's recent outburst, Wagner has long been seen as another military arm of the Kremlin, allowing it to send private soldiers around the world to operate with a level of deniability.
The UK is poised to designate the group, which has been active in the Middle East and Africa, as terrorists.
The notorious company has been accused of executing those who try to leave the group with a sledgehammer, while men claiming to have been commanders have described how they murdered a Ukrainian child.
After months of relatively stable front lines and no serious breakthroughs, including a Russian offensive that barely made any headway, a major Ukrainian counter-attack is expected.
Kyiv has tried to manage expectations and remained tight-lipped as to when it will get under way.
It ended last year with a stunning campaign that liberated huge swathes of territory around Kharkiv and retook Kherson in the south.
