Head of Russian private army Wagner says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut battle
Kyiv, May 24: The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarising the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he's lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war.
His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow's widely disputed claims from that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.
Ukraine hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhin's comments were in line with their own estimates that Russian losses have accelerated.
The White House estimated this month that Russian forces had suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in fighting, since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said then that about half of those killed were Wagner forces.
Analysts believe many of those killed in the nine-month fight for Bakhmut were Russian convicts with little military training.
Prigozhin himself a former convict has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition. He also has questioned their tactics, commitment and leadership capabilities, and complained they haven't sufficiently credited his forces for battlefield successes.
He's highlighted his forces' sacrifices and on Saturday touted what he claims is the capture of the city of Bakhmut.
In an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist, he went even further in his criticism questioning some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war.
Prigozhin said Russia's goal of "demilitarizing" Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv's military has become stronger with Western weapons and training.
In invading Ukraine, Putin also cited the need to increase Russia's security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Since the war began, Ukraine has applied to join NATO, and cross-border attacks into Russia itself have increased.
In the interview, Prigozhin also challenged Moscow's vehement denials that Russian forces had killed civilians.
Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with longtime links to Putin, is known for his bluster often spiced with obscenities and has previously made unverifiable claims from which he later backtracked.
Earlier this month, his media team published a video of him shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies on the ground, saying they were Wagner fighters who died in a single day. He claimed the Russian Defense Ministry had starved his men of ammunition, and he threatened to give up the fight for Bakhmut.
Prigozhin has frequently warned of a counteroffensive that Ukrainian officials have said they're planning, and in Tuesday's interview, he said that, given continued Western support, Kyiv's forces might succeed in pushing Russian troops out of all territory they occupy in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as annexed Crimea.
"A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians are given missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, try to counterattack," he said. "They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), cut off (our) supply lines. Therefore we need to prepare for a hard war."
Prigozhin's admission of heavy losses appears to show the impact of Ukraine's strategy. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and training to be completed.
Russia's largest state-run and pro-Kremlin media did not report Prigozhin's interview, posted in a Telegram channel with only 50,000 followers, making it unlikely to be widely seen in Russia.
Nor did Russian military bloggers, whose popular Telegram pages are important sources of information about the war to many Russians, mention it.
On the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that "heavy fighting" was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia claimed it had completely captured the devastated city. Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four Russia illegally annexed last fall and only partially controls.
The head of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyiv's forces "are continuing their defensive operation" in Bakhmut, with unspecified "successes" on its outskirts. He didn't elaborate.
A Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Ukrainians planned to trap the Russians.
"Now we don't need to fight in Bakhmut. We need to surround it from flanks and block it," Yevhen Mezhevikin said. "Then we should sweep' it. This is more appropriate, and that's what we are doing now."
Elsewhere, more attacks continued in a border region that Russian officials had claimed had calmed down after one of the most serious incursions since the war began. Russian forces shot down "a large number" of drones in Russia's southern Belgorod region, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced that its forces crushed a cross-border raid from Ukraine.
The drones were intercepted overnight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, and another was shot down Wednesday just outside the regional capital, also called Belgorod.
He said no one had been hurt, but property had been damaged.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed to respond "promptly and extremely harshly" to such attacks.
Details of the incident in the rural region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and far from the war's front lines, are unclear.
Moscow blamed the incursion on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv described it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.
It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.
The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots. The Belgorod region, like the neighbouring Bryansk region and other border areas, has seen sporadic spillover from the war.
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Vijayendra slams Cong govt over alleged medicine shortage, irregularities in health dept
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Wednesday hit out at the Congress government over alleged medicine shortages, large-scale irregularities and disruption of services in the health department.
The situation had deteriorated to such an extent that doctors were forced to protest on the streets, he claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the Siddaramaiah-led government lacked the will to resolve pressing public issues and accused it of indulging in "blame politics" instead of governance.
"Due to the irresponsibility of this Congress government, the health department itself is in the ICU. There is a severe shortage of medicines in government hospitals. The 108 ambulance services are facing severe problems. Doctors have been pushed to the streets to protest. The Congress government celebrates 1,000 days in power with achievement conventions, but it has failed to solve real problems," he said.
He criticised the state government for allegedly shutting down Jan Aushadhi centres located on government hospital premises, claiming that needy patients are suffering as they are not getting medicines.
"For the past two months, government doctors themselves have been advising poor patients to buy medicines from private pharmacies because medicines are unavailable in hospitals," he alleged.
Vijayendra further alleged that the state government has reportedly not cleared Rs 143 crore in dues to institutions providing CT scan and MRI services.
"As a result, needy patients in rural and urban areas are unable to access these services. Pregnant women are facing hardships. Doctors are forced to protest on the streets...This government claims to be one that delivers on its promises. But does it have even the slightest concern for how poor people are struggling in the healthcare sector," he alleged.
The BJP state president claimed that the Congress government under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and its deputy D K Shivakumar is not pro-poor; instead, it is a government that supports middlemen.
"Who is responsible for the medicine shortage in government hospitals and medical colleges? The state government and the concerned ministers are responsible. According to information available to me, under pressure from influential individuals, irregularities are taking place in medicine procurement. Instead of purchasing medicines through authorised central and state agencies, the government has moved to fragmented district- and taluk-level tenders," he claimed.
He further alleged that due to commission demands of 15-20 per cent, many companies and public enterprises are not participating in tenders, worsening the system.
Vijayendra claimed that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation's procurement system has been sidelined, leading to an artificial shortage of medicines.
He also alleged that a private individual from Mangaluru is controlling the state's medicine procurement system, supplying medicines to most government hospitals.
"This has led to market prices being inflated. Medicines costing Rs 100 are reportedly being purchased for Rs 300. I will provide more documents and evidence in the coming days," he claimed.
He also alleged that staff associated with the 108 ambulance services have not been paid salaries for the past eight to nine months.
"The government must take responsibility and reform the system instead of protecting middlemen," he added.
