1500 Ukrainians dead in one day?
Prigozhin: Russian claims “wild fantasies”
6/6/2023, 2:16 p.m
For months, the head of the mercenary group has been dishing out Wagner against the Russian military leadership. Now Prigozhin is questioning Moscow’s figures on Ukrainian casualties. Such a “massacre” is unrealistic.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin describes Russian statements about “massive losses” in the Ukrainian military as implausible. Statements by the Russian Defense Ministry that the military killed a total of “1,500 soldiers” and destroyed more than 28 armored vehicles in repelling a Ukrainian offensive are “wild fantasies,” the head of the Russian mercenary group told Telegram. “Annihilation of one and a half thousand people in just one day (…) would be such a massacre,” said Prigozhin, adding that he considered the statements from Moscow unrealistic.
On Monday, Prigozhin said Ukrainian troops had advanced and recaptured areas near the long-contested and now-ruined city of Bakhmut. The Russian troops now “slowly” left the village of Berkhivka near Bakhmut. That was a “shame,” said Prigozhin. Last month, Russia declared that it had captured Bakhmut.
Prigozhin has been criticizing the state of the Russian army for months and accuses the Defense Ministry in Moscow and the army general staff of a lack of support and the resulting higher number of victims in his mercenary group. For example, he denounced a lack of ammunition.
New air raids on Kyiv
Meanwhile, there were renewed Russian air raids on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev during the night. According to the information, the air defense destroyed more than 20 projectiles. No injuries were reported. Falling debris damaged sidewalks, trolleybus power lines and shop windows in one district, according to the local government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his troops for the advances near Bakhmut. “Well done, warrior! We see how hysterically Russia reacts to every step we take there,” he said in a video on the online networks on Monday.