Wagner chief makes thinly veiled retort toward Russian defense ministry about Soledar

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has posted a thinly veiled retort toward the Russian Defense Ministry about the claimed capture of Soledar.

His remarks highlight, once again, the rift between Prigozhin and the defense ministry.

In a post on Telegram, the head of the Russian mercenary group said that while the United States is “a serious adversary, at the moment it is not a key one” — instead, the Russian Defense Ministry is.

Prigozhin added that “significant damage to PMC Wagner can be caused by our intraspecific struggle, corruption, bureaucracy and officials who want to stay in their places. This is a more serious threat to PMC Wagner.” 

A Ukrainian official denied Russia had taken the town, saying fighting was ongoing. A Ukrainian soldier stationed in the eastern city of Bakhmut told CNN that Ukrainian units are still at the edges of Soledar.

Some background: CNN has previously reported about the rift that has opened up between Prigozhin — dubbed “Putin’s chef” — and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

In a series of recent videos, Prigozhin said, “once we conquer our internal bureaucracy and corruption, then we will conquer the Ukrainians and NATO … The problem now is that the bureaucrats and those engaging in corruption won’t listen to us now because for New Year’s they are all drinking champagne.”

In his Friday Telegram post, Prigozhin said that “they constantly steal victory from Wagner PMC and talk about the presence of someone who is not clear, just to belittle their merits.” This appears to be another dig at the lack of acknowledgement of the fighting Wagner units have been doing around and in Soledar.

On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that Russia had taken the town, but did not mention the work of Wagner units in the town. In recent days, Prigozhin has gone out of his way to make it clear that Wagner are “exclusively” fighting in the city. 

What Ukraine says: A top Ukrainian official on Friday characterized infighting among different factions of the Russian power establishment as a “sign of the beginning of the stunning end.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine, said on Twitter that the “public rumble” among the Russian Defense Ministry, Progozhin and General Sergei Surovikin “about who is fighting better on the 11th month of the 3-day war & who will sow Soledar with their corpses the most.”

“A good sign of the beginning of the stunning end!” he said.

Surovikin was replaced as head of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine on Wednesday.

CNN’s Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated.