‘Obscenity-Laden Tirade’: Head of Brutal Russian Mercenary Group Rips Putin’s Military Leaders In Graphic Clip Displaying Dead Soldiers

Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the brutal Russian mercenary force The Wagner Group, released a series of stunning videos on social media Thursday night, in which he showed the dead bodies of Russians killed fighting in Ukraine and blasted Russian military leadership.

Prigozhin, whose forces have fought from Africa to Syria on behalf of Vladimir Putin, vowed to withdraw from Bakhmut in one clip by May 10th, the deadliest battlefield so far in the war. The Wagner Group has made headlines throughout the war for its brutal tactics and targeting of civilians, as well as horrendous battlefield executions of its own members accused of desertion or defecting.

MSNBC reported on Prigozhin’s statements on Friday morning. “In this video posted online, the Wagner Group’s chief said his forces in Bakhmut are in desperate need of ammunition and that his troops were, quote, doomed to a senseless death. Joining us now is NBC’s Ellison Barber. She is live in Kiev this morning. Ellison, what’s the latest on the ground there?” asked anchor Jose Diaz-Balart.

“Hey, Jose. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, posted a series of videos on social media, one of them in incredibly graphic video showing rows of dead Russian soldiers behind him as he angrily pleaded with Russia’s Ministry of Defense to provide his forces, his unit, with more ammunition,” Barber reported, adding:

He threatened to withdraw all of his fighters out of Bakhmut by Wednesday if they do not get more ammunition. Ukrainian officials, they’re incredibly skeptical of this claim. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister now saying Russia is desperately trying to seize back by Tuesday, May 9th. That’s an important holiday in Russia, one that’s known as Victory Day.

She says Russia is actually moving Wagner fighters from other directions and replacing them with paratrooper assault units that are currently fighting in the back direction. A spokesperson for the eastern group of Ukrainian forces claims Wagner fighters are not dying because they lack ammunition. He says Ukrainian positions have been hit in a move 520 times just in the last day. He says the Wagner group is suffering colossal losses because of the successes of Ukrainian forces. And he is saying that this allegation, this claim from Prigozhin, is a lie to try and justify the failures that they are having in Bakhmut. That has been the site of the longest, bloodiest battle of this war.

“It’s gone on for about eight months with neither side making significant territorial gains. The thought amongst military experts is that part of Ukraine’s strategy here is to keep Russian forces and the Wagner group engaged in this fight here so they deplete their number of forces and also their weapons so they have a better chance to launch a successful counteroffensive, one we expect to happen really any day now,” Barber concluded.

The Washington Post also reported on Prigozhin’s statements, noting in the “extraordinary video” Prigozhin “displayed dozens of corpses of Wagner fighters killed in Bakhmut on Thursday, before launching a furious, obscenity-laden tirade, blaming Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, for supplying Wagner with only 30 percent of the ammunition it needed.”

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC.