Moscow: On Tuesday, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group in Russia claimed that a Russian military unit had fled positions near Bakhmut in Ukraine and declared that the state was unable to defend itself.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose influence in Moscow's offensive in Ukraine has grown significantly, has recently released a number of vicious videos criticising the Russian military hierarchy.

In a video, Prigozhin stated that "today one of the defence ministry units fled from one of our flanks... exposing the front."If he does not receive the desperately needed ammunition, he has threatened to remove his fighters from Bakhmut on May 10.

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The mercenary band has led Moscow's offensive against the Ukrainian city in the east.

Prigozhin claimed that the reason why soldiers were escaping was due to the "stupidity" of the Russian army commanders, who he claimed were issuing "criminal orders."
Soldiers shouldn't lose their lives as a result of their leadership's blatant stupidity, according to Prigozhin.
On Russia's Victory Day, when Moscow commemorates the Soviet victory over the Nazis in World War II, he released the video.
Later that day, "assault troops," which are typically Wagner units, were "continuing to fight in the western part" of Bakhmut, according to a statement from the Russian defence ministry.
Russian paratroopers "provided assistance," the ministry claimed, omitting to mention Prigozhin's claim that soldiers had abandoned their posts.

Prigozhin claimed on Tuesday that Moscow's top generals were attempting to "deceive" Vladimir Putin regarding the Kremlin's campaign in Ukraine in an unprecedented attack on the Russian army.

"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," said Prigozhin.

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The outspoken 61-year-old questioned the Kremlin's capacity to defend the nation as Ukraine gets ready for a spring offensive. Why is the state unable to protect its nation? In the video, Prigozhin added that Ukraine was "successfully" attacking Russian border regions.

As Moscow celebrated Victory Day with a massive military parade on Red Square that was broadcast nationwide, Prigozhin released the video.
According to him, Ukraine was getting ready for an offensive "that will be on the ground, not on TV."

"Up to this point, everyone in our nation believes that everything must be done on television." Russia has nearly constant coverage of its offensive, portraying the army only in favourable terms.

To put more pressure on Russia, The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that Britain is prepared to formally designate the group as a terrorist organisation.

The months-long Russian assault on Bakhmut in the industrial Donbas region has been led by Wagner mercenaries.

After two months of developing a legal case, the newspaper reported citing a government source that proscription or a formal blacklisting of the group was "imminent" and likely to be implemented within weeks.

According to The Times, this would make it illegal to be a member of Wagner, attend its meetings, encourage support for it, or display its logo in public. The newspaper also stated that the group would face financial penalties and that raising money would be affected if any money went through British financial institutions. An inquiry for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by the British foreign ministry.

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Since more than nine months ago, Bakhmut has been under Russian attack. Russian Wagner Group mercenaries have repeatedly attempted to advance on the once-70,000-person city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group's leader, announced on social media on Monday that his troops were starting to receive the ammunition they needed to continue their advance. In the midst of fierce fighting, troops had only advanced up to 130 metres (400 feet), according to Prigozhin.