
The head of Russian private military company Wagner has launched an expletive-filled verbal attack on Kremlin officials in a graphic new video in which he appears beside what he says are the bodies of his mercenaries killed fighting in Ukraine.
“These guys here are Wagner PMC [men] who died today. The blood is still fresh. Film all of them!” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says in the video posted to social media.
Prigozhin last month threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut if they don't receive more munitions to continue the fight.
In the new video, he reiterated his call for munitions, urging Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed forces Valery Gerasimov to look at the bodies.
“These are someone's f**king fathers and someone's sons. And you f**kers who aren't giving [us] ammunition, you b*tches, will have your guts eaten out in hell!”, Prigozhin says in the video. “You sit there in your luxury clubs, your kids are addicted to shooting clips for YouTube. You think you are the masters of this life? You think you can dispose of their lives? If you have warehouses full of ammunition, then you do.”
Prigozhin, whose forces have played a key role in Russian assaults on Ukrainian territory, has often clashed with Putin’s generals and other defense officials in Moscow.
He has complained for well over a month of receiving insufficient support from the Kremlin in the grueling fight for Bakhmut.
“This is simple math," he says in the video. "If you give the normal amount of ammunition, there would be five times less [dead]. They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices.”