Dykyi explains why Prigozhin decided to return Wagner PMC to Africa
He’s simply run out of men and can’t absorb more losses from the Ukrainian military (Photo:press service of Prigozhin/Telegram)
The former commander of the Aidar battalion, Yevhen Dykyi, in an interview with Radio NV has explained why Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin decided to return his Wagner PMC mercenaries to Africa.
“I suppose this could be true because what else is left for him to do here? His supplies have been shut off,” said Dykyi.
Dykyi said the decision had little to do with Wagner PMC allegedly “being denied ammunition”, but instead that they had been provided with conscripts mobilized by the Russian government.
“(The Russian authorities) shut off (Prigozhin’s) ability to recruit prisoners. Those are the prisoners (he used in) his absolutely insane offensive operations, which were planned with such a high level of losses that no modern army would even consider them possible,” said Dykyi.
“Such losses are not acceptable in the 21st Century, but that’s just it: he’s been cut off from the ability to recruit replacements for them from the Gulag, and those who have survived are approaching the end of their six-month contract. There was a clear condition: for six months, you fight like cannon fodder, you’ll probably die, but if you survive, you get a full amnesty and can return to Russia.”
Should this not happen, Dykyi believes, the former prisoners of Wagner PMC “will likely revolt, desert en masse, or surrender to our side.”
As a result, Prigozhin has no one else to turn to, as he has run out of people.
Wagner PMC’s operations in Africa generate profits, explained Dykyi, while involvement in Ukraine is a “money pit”, where Prigozhin’s funds are continuously being drained and where his perceived political benefits have evaporated.
“On the other hand, you can do whatever you want in Africa (...) For example, burn down entire villages with civilian populations, use mass rape, and loot. There, as terrible as it sounds, in some countries of Africa this is still considered normal – everyone fights like that. That's why they fit in well there and make good money," he added.
Bloomberg reported on March 23 that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder, owner, and financier of the PMC Wagner, is preparing to wind down operations in Ukraine following numerous setbacks.
The head of the Joint Press Center of the Defense Forces of the Tavria Area, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, stated earlier that Prigozhin is losing 500-800 mercenaries every day.
The spokesperson for the Eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel Serhiy Cherevatyy, stated that Prigozhin is approaching his downfall and has lost almost all his mercenaries in battles with Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
The United States has declared Wagner as a transnational criminal organization andhas expanded sanctions against the group, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
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