Russia-Ukraine war: Wagner Group boss says Russian unit fled combat in Bakhmut

Russia's Wagner Group founderYevgeny Prigozhin on Tuesday claimed a Russian military unit had deserted one of the military positions near Bakhmut in east Ukraine, currently the epicentre of vicious fighting between the two sides.

"Today one of the units of the defence ministry fled from one of our flanks...exposing the front," saidPrigozhin while repeating the threat that his mercenary group will leave the conflict zone if the Russian military did not step up and provide more ammunition.

He added that Russian soldiers were 'fleeing' the army as the defence ministry was 'scheming all the time', instead of 'fighting'.

In a scathing video,Prigozhin questioned,"Why is the state not able to defend its country?", adding that Kyiv was consistently hitting Russian border regions 'successfully'.

He also accused Moscow's top generals of trying to deceiveRussian President Vladimir Putin.

"If all the tasks are being carried out in such a way as to deceive the commander-in-chief (Putin), then either he will rip your arse or the Russian people will, who will be angry that the war is lost," Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin and Putin's relationship turns frosty

The relationship betweenPrigozhin andPutin has turned frosty in recent times.Prigozhin has accused Putin of cutting him off completely, claiming that he was left alone in making war-related decisions about his army. He claimed that his paramilitary army has suffered heavy losses when trying to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut.

“To get me to stop asking for ammunition, all the hotlines to offices, to departments etc have been cut off from me. But the real humdinger is that they’ve also blocked agencies from making decisions [related to Wagner]," said Prigozhin.

Previously, reports claimed that Wagner Group was so hard-pressed for men that it was using Pornhub to recruit soldiers - urging them to stop pleasuring themselves and instead join the private militia.

War unleashed against Russia: Putin

Notably, the statement byPrigozhin came on the same day as the country celebrates Victory Day - a holiday that commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945.

During theRed Square Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin said the world was at a 'turning point' and that a 'war' had been unleashed against Russia.

"Today civilisation is again at a decisive turning point.A war has been unleashed against our motherland," said Putin.

He called for Russia to be victorious: "For Russia, for our armed forces, for victory! Hurrah!"

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: