Evguéni Prigojine, head of the Wagner group, has said he wants to cede his positions in Bakhmout to the Chechen dictator, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine said he wanted to cede his positions in Bakhmout to the Chechen dictator, Ramzan Kadyrov, to protest against the lack of ammunition of his troops. At the same time, Russia accuses Ukraine and the West of being behind the explosion of a car, which injured the nationalist writer and fierce supporter of the Russian invasion Zakhar Prilepin. Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from this day of conflict.
Yevgeny Prigojine wants to cede his positions in Bakhmout to dictator Ramzan Kadyrov
The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner said on Saturday he wanted to hand over his positions to Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov and his troops. In a video released on Thursday, Wagner’s boss threatened to quit the Ukrainian front if Moscow did not supply his troops with fresh ammunition.
“I ask you to issue an order of battle on the transfer, before midnight on May 10, of the positions of the Wagner group to the units of the Akhmat battalion in the locality of Bakhmout and its surroundings”, said Yevgeny Prigojine, in a letter addressed to the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, published by his press service. The leader of Wagner specifies making this request “due to a long shortage of ammunition”accusing the staff of having provided him with only 32% of those requested since last October.
On Telegram, Ramzan Kadyrov affirmed in the process that his troops were “ready to advance towards” Bakhmout. “I have already signed a letter to the Supreme Commander on the desire to return the city and clean it from Otab”, he detailed. Without specifying the Kremlin’s response to Wagner’s request, Ramzan Kaydrov assured that he had “already started to develop [une] action strategy with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation taking into account enemy tactics and the resources available to us”.
Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin injured in car ‘explosion’
This support of the Kremlin attack in Ukraine was injured on Saturday in the“blast” of his car in Russia, while his driver was killed, according to the Russian Interior Ministry. The authorities said that a suspect had been arrested in the region of Nizhny Novgorod (center-west), where the facts took place. He acted on orders from Ukraine, say the investigators.
The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, accused Ukraine, the United States, Great Britain and NATO of being behind this act. “terrorist”. “The responsibility for this terrorist attack and others rests not only with the Ukrainian authorities but also with their Western sponsors, first and foremost the United States”said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, adding that “the silence of the international organizations concerned is unacceptable”. kyiv has denied any involvement.
A well-known figure on the Russian literary scene, translated in several countries, the 47-year-old writer committed himself in 2014 to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, alongside whom he fought. Since then, he has traveled regularly to eastern Ukraine and defended President Vladimir Putin and his massive offensive against kyiv, launched on February 24, 2022.
Six Ukrainian deminers were killed by Russian fire
Six Ukrainians were killed by Russian gunfire on Saturday while taking part in a mine-clearing operation in the southern Kherson region, the country’s emergency rescue service said.
Russia says it shot down Ukrainian ballistic missile over Crimea
The ballistic missile was “taken from a Ukrainian Grom-2 system”, Sergei Aksionov, head of Crimea installed by Moscow, announced on Telegram on Saturday. There is “no destruction, no victims”, he specified. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, this is only the second time that the use of Ukrainian Grom ballistic missiles has been reported by authorities over Crimea. The first report dated back to last month. Since the summer of 2022, Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, has been regularly hit by explosions and attacks by aerial drones, and sometimes surface (naval) drones.
The Russian occupation does not plan to evacuate employees of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
The Russian occupation administration of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine assured on Saturday that no evacuation of employees from the site was planned for the time being after the announcement of partial evacuations in the area, in full fear of a Ukrainian offensive. “Stay calm”said in a press release Yuri Tchernichuk, director of the site appointed by the Russian authorities.“There is nothing to worry about. All reactors (from the central) are on hold”he said.
The day before, the regional official installed by Moscow, Evguéni Balitski, had announced a partial evacuation of 18 localities under Russian occupation in the region of Zaporijjia, in particular in Energodar. According to Yevgeny Balitsky, these evacuations “temporaries” primarily concern children with their parents, the elderly and disabled, hospital patients faced with the multiplication, according to him, of Ukrainian bombardments in recent days.