Wagner head wants to cede combat positions in Bakhmut to Chechen forces

MOSCOW

The head of private Russian military company Wagner said on Saturday that he has sought authorization to transfer combat positions in Ukraine's city of Bakhmut to Chechen forces.

In a statement on Telegram, Evgeny Prigozhin said his group cannot continue fighting due to ammunition shortage and he asked Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu to issue the relevant authorization.

Prigozhin thanked Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for agreeing to replace Wagner units in Bakhmut with Akhmat special forces, saying some 2 square kilometers (0.7 square miles) of the city territory remain under control of the Ukrainian troops.

For his part, Kadyrov said in a separate statement on Telegram that several units have already departed for the city.

Prigozhin has been complaining about shortage of ammunition and unwillingness of the Russian military chiefs to supply his group with necessary combat means for several months.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region.