Wagner group to stay in Bakhmut despite threats of leaving

Yevgeny Prigozhin has announced his forces will not withdraw from Bakhmut by his previously-stated deadline of 10 May, despite the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) failing to provide Wagner with additional shells.

The Institute for the Study of War said one of the reasons Prigozhin was not following through on his threat to withdraw from Bakhmut is his claim that the Russian MoD order threatened Wagner with treason if he withdrew his forces from Bakhmut.

Prigozhin continued to blame high casualties and the slow pace of advances in Bakhmut on other Russian irregular formations to frame Wagner as the only competent force operating in the area.

He accused the Russian MoD. which he nicknamed “the Russian Ministry of Drama”, of focusing on internal conflicts instead of fighting, which he claimed led forces to “run away”.

Watch Euronews correspondent Sasha Vakulina's breakdown in the report above.