Ukraine updates: Wagner boss says Russian army fled BakhmutPro-Kremlin paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin accuses a regular Russian military unit of abandoning its positions near Bakhmut. Meanwhile, Russia has launched a new attack on Kyiv. DW has the latest.Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that leads the ongoing assault on Bakhmut, on Tuesday accused the Russian army of fleeing its positions around the city.
"Today one of the units of the Defense Ministry fled from one of our flanks ... exposing the front," said Prigozhin.
Prigozhin, popularly known as Putin's chef because of the lucrative catering contracts he once held with the Kremlin, accused the Russian Defense Ministry of "scheming all the time" instead of fighting.
Prigozhin said soldiers were abandoning their positions because of the "stupidity" of Russian army commanders, who he said were giving "criminal orders."
"Soldiers should not die because of the absolute stupidity of their leadership," Prigozhin said, repeating his threat that Wagner would withdraw from the frontline city if Russia does not supply more ammunition soon.
The mercenary group has been at the forefront of Russia's efforts to take Bakhmut. Russian authorities committed to providing Wagner Group with more ammunition after Prigozhin publicly denounced Russia's military leadership in a confrontational video filmed while standing over the bodies of dead soldiers in Bakhmut.
The city has been the center of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces for months, and both sides have suffered severe casualties there. Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner Group fighters from the city due to the shortage of ammunition.
"The people who were supposed to fulfill the (shipment) orders have so far, over the past day, not fulfilled them," Prigozhin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces had failed to capture the city before the May 9 Russian holiday that marks the Soviet Union's World War II victory over Nazi Germany.
A Ukrainian general had said on Sunday that Moscow Russia was still hoping to capture Bakhmut before Tuesday's Victory Day events.
Here are some of the other notable developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Tuesday, May 9:
Activist artists stops Russian diplomat laying wreathMoscow's ambassador to Poland found his path to lay flowers at a Soviet memorial in Warsaw blocked by an installation representing Russian war crimes as Russia celebrates Victory Day over Nazi Germany.
Several dozen activists also unveiled the work, comprising hundreds of Ukrainian flags and memorial crosses for Ukrainians killed during the Russian invasion, outside the memorial.
The installation included models of apartment buildings damaged and destroyed by Russian shelling in different Ukrainian cities.
The ambassador, Sergei Andreyev, tried to place his wreath at the mausoleum but was confronted by pro-Ukrainian activists. He was eventually forced to lay the flowers at the entrance .
Andreyev was also met with protests last year at the memorial, when activists threw red paint at him.
Von der Leyen visits Kyiv to mark Europe DayEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday to mark Europe Day, a day observed annually by the European Union to celebrate peace and unity in Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had decreed that Ukraine would also observe Europe Day this year, which coincides with the Victory Day parades held in Russia to mark the end of World War II.
"I very much welcome President Zelenskyy's decision to make May 9 the Day of Europe. Ukraine is part of our European family," von der Leyen told reporters on her train to Kyiv.
Ukraine moved its commemoration of the end of World War II in Europe from May 8 to May 9, in line with many other countries in Europe, in order to avoid celebrating the historic military victory on the same day as Russia.
Germany's Scholz calls to integrate Europe's defense industriesThe member states of the European Union must integrate their various defense industries more quickly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
"Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown us how essential this realization is," he added.
Putin speaks at Victory Day paradeRussian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow to mark the Soviet Union's role in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
"Today civilisation is again at a decisive turning point," Putin said during his speech, adding that "a real war has been unleashed against our motherland."
He also claimed that the future of Russia depends on the troops fighting in the invasion of Ukraine.
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https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-wagner-boss-says-russian-army-fled-bakhmut/a-65556919
