It is not the first time Prigozhin has raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia’s military, with which he has long been in conflict. And in a counterpoint to Prigozhin’s visibility, Shoigu was shown Friday inspecting military equipment and weapons destined for Russian troops in Ukraine. During the war in Ukraine, he has publicly accused some top Russian military officials of incompetence — behavior that is highly unusual in Russia’s tightly controlled political system. “Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are growing exponentially every day.”Hanna Maliar, the deputy head of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said Friday that Ukrainian artillery had destroyed some Wagner ammunition depots. Prigozhin has already threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut once before, in an interview with a Russian military blogger last week.
