- Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin backed up criticisms of Russia's top general, the Daily Beast reported.
- Prigozhin spoke supportively of a soldier who called Valery Gerasimov a "motherfucker."
The leader of the pro-Russian Wagner Group private army endorsed a stinging criticism of Russia's official military, the Daily Beast reported, escalating the in-fighting around the war in Ukraine.
The intervention by Yevgeny Prigozhin came after a foul-mouthed video from his rank-and-file mercenaries attacking Russia's top general, accusing him of leaving them to do all the hard fighting.
It is the latest salvo in a bitter rift between Russia's formal military leaders and Wagner, the private army smiled upon by President Vladimir Putin and which is supporting the country's invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Prigozhin commented on a video that has circulated for a few days, the Beast reported.
In the video, a Wagner fighter addresses comments to the Chief of the General Staff of Russia's army, Valery Gerasimov: "You are a fucking motherfucker," he said, per the Beast's translation.
"We have nothing to fight with, we have no rounds," he continued. "The guys are dying for us there, and we're fucking sitting here, not helping. We need rounds, we want to fuck everyone up.
"We are fighting against the entire Ukrainian army near Bakhmut. Where are you? It's about time you help us. There's nothing else to fucking call you except motherfucker!"
In recent months the city of Bakhmut, in the Donbas region, has become a focal point of much of the fighting in Ukraine, with heavy losses on both sides.
Asked to comment on the video, Prigozhin confirmed that it was his soldiers speaking, and defended them, the Beast reported. "The guys asked me to pass along, that when you're sitting in a warm office, it's hard to hear the problems on the frontline," he said, per the outlet's translation.
"But when you're dragging the dead bodies of your friends every day, and seeing them for the last time, then supplies are very much needed. And you want everyone to stir and at least in some way to think about how it is for those on the frontline."
He also spoke of "the problems that are unfortunately surfacing at every step" in apparent reference to the ongoing battlefield struggle.
It's only the latest evidence of simmering tensions among Russia's military elite as they struggle to make headway in Ukraine — where once a total conquest was considered achievable within two days.
By September, UK intelligence was noting that Russia's reliance on the Wagner Group was beginning to wear down its men, and Prigozhin was documented touring Russian prisoners to bolster his manpower with convicts.
According to Politico, in October fractures emerged in the Russian military elite and two camps formed, with the ultra-hawkish Prigozhin and Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov on one side, and the more establishment figures of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the other.
Later, UK intelligence picked up on unsubstantiated rumors that Gerasimov had been removed from office by a displeased Putin, although the Kremlin quickly issued a denial.
In mid-December, an unnamed senior US military official told reporters of Russia's fast-diminishing fresh munitions stockpile, which if confirmed would add some weight to the Wagner soldier's complaints.