Moscow: In a fresh indication of tension among Russian armed forces as Ukraine prepares a significant military effort to try to end their invasion, Russia's largest mercenary group threatened to withdraw from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, claimed that his men had run out of ammunition and would anticipate the army taking their position in Bakhmut on the following Wednesday, endangering what has long been Russia's primary target in its attempt to partition its neighbour.

Prigozhin promised in a video that accompanied a written withdrawal announcement addressed to the chief of general staff, the defence ministry, and President Vladimir Putin as supreme commander, "My lads will not suffer pointless and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition."

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"If, because of your petty jealousy, you do not want to give the Russian people the victory of taking Bakhmut, that's your problem," Prigozhin continued in the video.

The fight for Bakhmut has been the bloodiest of the conflict, with thousands of lives lost on both sides over months of brutal trench warfare. Russia views Bakhmut as a stepping stone to other cities in the industrial Donbas region of Ukraine that are still outside of its control.

Prior to Kyiv's big push against the invading forces along the 1,000 km front line, Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in recent weeks but have hung on in the city to try to inflict as many losses as possible on their Russian opponents.

Our losses are growing exponentially every day due to a lack of ammunition, according to Prigozhin's official withdrawal statement.

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We must transfer positions in the Bakhmut settlement to defence ministry units on May 10, 2023, and we must remove the Wagner remnants to logistics camps so we can lick our wounds.

If his men received more ammunition, it was unclear if Prigozhin, who frequently makes rash statements, would proceed with the withdrawal. The timing for the Kremlin is embarrassing because on May 9, Russia holds its yearly World War Two victory parade on Moscow's Red Square, which is considered a holy occasion by many Russians.

The Kremlin chose not to respond to Prigozhin's assertion because it was connected to what it refers to as its "special military operation" in Ukraine, where it has annexed portions of the country's southern and eastern regions.

Moscow claims that its security is threatened by Ukraine's moves towards the West. Ukraine claims that the invasion is just a land grab.
Col. General Mikhail Mizintsev, a former Russian deputy defence minister, reportedly joined Wagner as a deputy commander, according to Russian pro-war social media channels, adding to signs of confusion on the Russian side.

Prigozhin was earlier seen cursing at Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov while standing around corpses he claimed to be his men.

Prigozhin frequently makes hasty comments online and last week he took one down that he claimed was a "joke."

However, the threat and the video made clear how under pressure Russian forces are as Ukraine finalises plans for a counteroffensive supported by tens of thousands of newly trained troops and armoured vehicles donated by the West.

In the past 24 hours, shelling in Donetsk and the southern Kherson region, according to Ukraine, has resulted in two fatalities, nine injuries, and damage to electricity distribution networks.

Russian news agencies reported a second drone attack in as many days on the Ilsky oil refinery in the south on Friday, causing a fire but no casualties. Russia has largely been spared from the conflict. It wasn't immediately obvious who was in charge.

Despite occasionally celebrating them, officials from Ukraine rarely take responsibility for the sporadic attacks on Russian fuel depots.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, Moscow claimed that Ukraine had launched drones at the Kremlin in an effort to assassinate Putin. The Kremlin's involvement in the incident was denied by Kiev, and the United States labelled the Kremlin's claims as "lies."

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On Friday, Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, declared that the incident was a "hostile act" to which Russia would respond with "concrete actions." The security council would probably discuss the incident on Friday, according to a Kremlin spokesman.

The Kremlin may use the incident to galvanise the populace behind its actions in Ukraine and escalate the conflict, analysts say, despite the fact that it is unclear who launched the drones.