The head of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner said Thursday his fighters in Ukraine were getting ammunition after he accused Russia’s top brass of withholding supplies.
“Today at 6:00 a.m., it was announced that the shipment of ammunition was starting,” Prigozhin said in a statement shared by his press service, adding that the “main papers have already been signed.”
One day earlier he made an unprecedented call on Russians to pressure the country’s regular army to share ammunition with his fighters, in an ongoing stand-off with military leaders.
Fighting alongside Russian forces, Prigozhin’s mercenary group has spearheaded the assault on towns in eastern Ukraine.
The 61-year-old ally of President Vladimir Putin has also been involved in a bitter power struggle with the defense ministry for months.
Prigozhin made headlines on Tuesday when he accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, of wanting to “destroy” Wagner and essentially committing “treason.”
He has said Wagner is losing scores of men every day due to a lack of ammunition and released a picture of dozens of dead mercenaries lying in the snow.
On Thursday, Prigozhin said he wanted to “thank all those, who helped make this happen,” referring to the ammunition deliveries, including those “in high places.”
“You saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives of guys defending their homeland,” he said.
“Their mothers and children will not receive coffins with their bodies,” he added.
