Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin threatens retreat over Russia's ammunition shortage

Reports suggest Ukraine could strike with counter-offensive this month, with good weather predicted

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, has threatened to pull his troops out of Bakhmut in Ukraine. AFP

The head of Wagner Group has threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the besieged Ukrainian town of Bakhmut if the Russian Defence Ministry fails to provide more ammunition, it has been reported.

In an interview with a Russian war blogger, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops would “withdraw in an organised manner or stay and die” if the supply situation did not improve.

In an interview reported picked up by US think tank the Institute for the Study of War, Mr Prigozhin alleged that his force urgently needed 80,000 shells but the Russian Defence Ministry had reduced his supply from 4,000 to 800 shells per day.

In another interview on Friday the leader and founder of the Wagner Group said it could soon cease to exist but it is not known if he was being serious.

In Saturday’s interview he claimed Ukraine’s much anticipated counter-offensive would begin before May 15 and criticised the Russian military for not “rushing to prepare to repel attacks”.

“Prigozhin’s threat to withdraw from Bakhmut may also indicate that he fears that the Russian positions in Bakhmut’s rear are vulnerable to counter-attacks,” the ISW report said.

Mr Prigozhin has previously claimed that the tough fighting in Bakhmut was part of a plan to “grind down" Ukrainian forces and rob them of the initiative.

But with good weather predicted for southern Ukraine next week, with sunshine and temperatures of 20°C expected in Kherson, the ground might soon become hard enough for Ukraine's armoured counter-offensive to begin.

The unusually cold and wet spring has to date made the ground too muddy for effective armoured manoeuvres, while high winds have hampered drone surveillance.

Ukraine's military has received 1,550 armoured vehicles and 230 modern tanks from Nato powers, along with large amounts of ammunition to form nine brigades that are poised to strike.

The counter-offensive will be a critical test for Ukraine to demonstrate whether its military has the training, acumen and strength to break through extensive Russian fortifications.

Kyiv hopes its troops can retake large segments of territory and cut off the annexed Crimea peninsula from Russia.

A fire at an oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea. The blaze has now been extinguished EPA

In a potential foretaste of the offensive, Ukraine launched a wave of Mugin-5 kamikaze drones that allegedly struck an oil storage plant in Crimea, starting a major fire on Saturday.

Video footage has shown an inferno that caused damage over 1,000 square metres in an attack that used up to 10 drones.

It has also been suggested that Ukraine might use Russia’s May 9 commemorations of its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany as the date to launch its counter-offensive.