Ukraine planning big attack to cut off Wagner forces, mercenary chief warns
- Yevgeny Prigozhin also said his forces controlled 70 per cent of Bakhmut, as he made the unusual move of publishing a letter sent to Russia’s defence minister
- In separate comments, the Wagner boss said there was a high probability the Russian city of Belgorod would be one of the targets of the coming Ukrainian push
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a letter published on Monday that the Ukrainian army was planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his Wagner forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
In the letter published by his press service, Prigozhin said the “large-scale attack” was planned for late March or the start of April.
“I ask you to take all necessary measures to prevent the Wagner private military company being cut off from the main forces of the Russian army, which will lead to negative consequences for the special military operation,” he said, employing the term that Moscow uses for its war in Ukraine.
It was the first time Prigozhin has published such correspondence with the defence minister, whom he has frequently criticised over the conduct of the war.
The unusual move appeared to have two possible aims: to wrong-foot Ukraine commanders and to seek to pin blame on Shoigu, not Prigozhin, if the purported Ukrainian manoeuvre proved successful.