Why is Russia’s Wagner threatening to withdraw from Bakhmut?
A threat by the leader of private Russian military company Wagner to withdraw his fighters from the battle to seize a city in eastern Ukraine is another episode in his dispute with Russia’s regular military over credit and tactics. Millionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin has led the push to jump-start Russia’s stalemated offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province. He threatened on Friday to pull out his soldiers from the city of Bakhmut next week, citing high casualties and ammunition shortages. Russia’s nine-month campaign to take Bakhmut has made the city the focus of the war’s longest battle. Ferocious house-to house fighting there has produced some of the bloodiest encounters since Russia sent troops into Ukraine.