MOSCOW

The head of the Russian Wagner private military company said on Wednesday that the problem of ammunition supplies to his group has not been solved, blaming its lack of a formal status.

In a comment published by the Wagner press service on Telegram, Evgeny Prigozhin said either Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu or Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov should sign the necessary documents.

"Neither wants to sign, because we don't formally exist," he stressed.

Previously, the ammunition was assigned to other military units but after Wagner captured the city of Soledar, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and the Defense Ministry claimed the victory, problems emerged, he said.

Prigozhin accompanied his statement by a photo of Wagner fighters who died in recent days, saying their losses would be far less if the group had enough ammunition on hand.

On Monday, Prigozhin said requests are written every day for more ammunition, and submitted to the relevant authorities, but after that, "no one knows who should give the answer and where the requests go."

"Those who prevent us from winning this war, they are directly, absolutely directly, working for the enemy," he stressed.

Wagner has faced controversy and criticism. Last year, the EU sanctioned Prigozhin for “undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” and in January the US designated the Wagner Group as a criminal organization. In 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Wagner mercenaries for working for a putschist general in Libya.