The Russian army retreats to the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhiawhile the Russian Ministry of Defense deceives the President of Russia, Vladimir Putindenounced this Friday the head of the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries, Yevgueni Prigozhin, a staunch critic of the Russian military command.

“The armed forces of Ukraine crush the Russian army, while we are bathed in blood, no one sends reserves, there is no order”, he stated in a video posted on Telegram.

Despite this situation, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff “still believe they can win this war”.

“But since there is no command, there are no military successes, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense thoroughly deceives the president,” he claimed.

That’s why he said: “all the time we hear about 60 Leopards destroyed, thousands of enemy soldiers destroyed”.

In the half-hour video billed as the first part of an interview with Prigozhin, Wagner’s boss openly lashes out at Russia’s Defense Ministry and, in particular, Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom he described as a “trembling grandfather” who should judge the deaths of “tens of thousands of young people.”

“It’s a moderately planned operation”, he claimed in reference to the Russian military campaign that began in February 2022.

According to Prigozhin, the operation would have been successful if no very serious planning errors had been made. “nor would naked barefoot soldiers have been sent” to the front.

Regarding the current situation at the front, he stressed that the Defense Ministry’s “sovereign lies” continue and the truth will come out.”when this platoon realizes it has lost a colossal piece of territory and says it has regrouped to more favorable positions”.

Meanwhile, he claimed, Russian soldiers continue to die or be seriously injured.