The founder of Russian mercenary group Wagner blamed a lack of shells and military support for his forces’ continuing failure to seize the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
(Bloomberg) — The founder of Russian mercenary group Wagner blamed a lack of shells and military support for his forces’ continuing failure to seize the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
“I’m knocking on all doors, raising the alarm about ammunition and reinforcements, as well as asking them to cover our flanks,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement posted by his press service on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier ordered his military commander to summon more forces to defend Bakhmut, a city in the east whose capture by Russia could provide it with the momentum for further advances.
Key Developments
- China Warns US Risks Catastrophe With Push to ‘Contain’ Beijing
- Georgia Targets ‘Foreign Agents’ as Critics Allege Tilt to Putin
- Cargill Is Optimistic Ukraine Grain-Export Deal Will Be Renewed
(All times CET)
Germany Rejects Vance Criticism (9 a.m.)
Germany’s ambassador to the US pushed back against criticism of the nation’s support for Ukraine expressed by Ohio’s Republican senator J. D. Vance, who called the conduct of the government in Berlin in the war “disgraceful” and questioned why “American taxpayers subsidize idiotic German energy policy and weak defense policy.”
Ambassador Emily Haber responded by pointing out that Germany is the EU’s “largest weapons supplier” to Ukraine and has established a fund worth €100 billion ($107 billion) to help modernize the military. “We’ll spend it,” Haber said in a tweet. “But you can’t buy tanks at Costco.”
US, EU Discussed Disrupting Russian Diamond Trade (7 a.m.)
US State Department and European Commission officials met with diamond industry representatives to discuss Russia’s trade in the precious stones and the most effective ways to disrupt revenue from it, according to a statement.
“Russia continues to earn billions of dollars from the diamond trade, and the discussion centered on the most effective and impactful ways to disrupt that revenue stream,” the State Department said.
Zelenskiy Vows to Hold Bakhmut (9:44 p.m.)
Zelenskiy said he asked his key military officers Monday whether Ukraine should pull out of Bakhmut and they were unanimous in supporting its continued defense despite Russian successes in surrounding the besieged city on three sides.
It was a change of tone for the president, who last month said that “the enemy is gradually destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, for reinforcement and defense” and that his forces wouldn’t hold the city “at any cost and with everyone dying.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.