CONFLICTSUKRAINE
Ukraine updates: Moscow ‘promised’ Wagner more ammunition
6 hours ago6 hours ago
Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea claim to have repelled a Ukrainian drone attack in Sevastopol, while the head of Wagner forces says Moscow has pledged to send more ammunition. Follow DW for the latest.
https://p.dw.com/p/4R0Q0
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the group has been promised more ammunition following a threat he made on Friday to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut due to a lack of support from Moscow.
“They promised to give us all the ammunition and armaments we need to continue the operations,” said Prigozhin, after he earlier criticized Russia’s handling of the battle in Bakhmut in a series of angry video messages.
Sunday’s statement implied Wagner would not fulfill its earlier threat of withdrawing from Bakhmut on May 10.
The city has been the scene of a monthslong bloody battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces.
Prigozhin had threatened to “pull out Wagner units from Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they are facing a senseless death.” The pullout was supposed to start on May 10.
The battle for the strategically important city has become the longest of the war, with severe losses on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides.
Russian forces were adamant for months about capturing the city, which would be their first significant battlefield victory in some eight months.
The battle has drained both sides’ artillery reserves, with thousands of shells fired daily.
Wagner had consistently pleaded for more ammunition to secure a victory.
Prigozhin has been vocal about a deepening rift with the Russian Defense Ministry amid rising rivalry between the two bodies on the Ukrainian battlefield.
Wagner group chief announces withdrawal from Bakhmut
02:45
Here are some of the other notable developments concerning the war in Ukraine on Sunday, May 7:
Crimea drone attack thwarted, Russia says
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Sunday that a series of Ukrainian drone strikes had been repelled overnight.
“Anti-aircraft defense and electronic warfare units repelled a new attack” on the city, he said.
Razvozhayev claimed in a message on Telegram that Ukraine launched more than 10 drones at the city. He said that two were shot down over the sea and another fell into a forest after losing control.
“No infrastructure in the city was damaged,” Razvozhayev said.
Sevastopol is the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet and is an important staging point for the Russian naval forces.
It is situated on the Crimean Peninsula which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Earlier this week, Russian authorities claimed to have thwarted drone attacks purportedly targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kyiv denied Russia’s accusations, with a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that the claims indicated Moscow was preparing a major “terrorist provocation.”
US says Kremlin lying about drone attack
02:36
Evacuations at Zaporizhzhia have IAEA concerned
The head of the UN nuclear power watchdog has expressed concern over the announced evacuations of residents from the nearby town of Enerhodar, close to the Zaporizhzhia facility.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,” Grossi said, stressing that immediate action was needed to “prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident.”
The Russian-installed governor of the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the front line as shelling had intensified in the area in recent days.
More DW coverage on Russia’s war in Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to extend a UN-brokered grain export deal for another 120 days, read more here about what is being seen as a breakthrough towards helping “avoid global food shortages” at a crucial time.
Poland and other EU member states have shut their borders to Ukrainian grain, plunging Ukraine’s farmers into financial hardship and uncertainty, more on that story here.
kb/wd (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
