It would mean that the Russian ministry of defence is now prioritising domestic power struggles over the invasion. This would be an astonishingly self-interested strategy in the midst of an existential battle for the Russian regime and could be slowing down the advance on Bakhmut. In other words, they could be holding back Russian forces and depriving Wagner of ammunition in order to inflict maximum attrition on Prigozhin’s mercenaries. A new report from the Institute for the Study of War says that Russian generals could be using the Bakhmut death trap as an opportunity “to deliberately expend both elite and convict Wagner forces… in an effort to weaken Prigozhin and derail his ambitions for greater influence over the Kremlin”. In February, he went as far as to accuse Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu of treason for withholding ammunition from his troops.Īs one might expect, the reaction from the ministry of defence has been unforgiving. He frequently alleges incompetence and even betrayal by Putin’s senior officials. He openly brags about his own successes, while issuing damning public criticism of Russia’s top brass. Since May last year, Prigozhin has been striking a public contrast with the Russian army’s humiliation on the battlefield. Perhaps he wishes to bring all Russian forces under his personal command. Some think his ultimate goal is to usurp the Russian ministry of defence. He seemingly believes he can use sheer military might in Ukraine – with the help of some 50,000 men – to prove himself as a Russian leader. For while his mercenaries have been at the forefront of the campaign to take Bakhmut, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been waging a political battle of his own, to gain influence in the Kremlin. Their confrontation has been eight months in the making. At the heart of it are two of the most significant parts of the Kremlin’s war machine: the Wagner Group and the Russian ministry of defence. But more significantly for the Kremlin, it may also be the site of an extraordinary Russian civil war, playing out on Ukrainian soil between different factions. One of the bloodiest battles in modern European history is taking place in Bakhmut, with reports of more than 1,000 soldiers dying in a single day.
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