Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin says Russia has already accomplished its goals in Ukraine—but must keep fighting even if it means humiliating defeat so that the country can ultimately rise again as a “war monster” that the international community will bow down to.
After recruiting thousands of prison inmates to help fight the war for Vladimir Putin and using his shadow army to emerge as a rival to Russia’s top military brass, the mercenary boss and Kremlin-linked businessman offered his thoughts on the state of the war in a lengthy article published Friday. In addition to predicting that Russia would ultimately come back stronger than ever, Prigozhin appeared to admit that Ukraine may win its territories back, acknowledged that the Kremlin’s plan had failed, and predicted a full-blown revolution in Russia.
“For the authorities and for society as a whole, it is necessary today to put a decisive end to the [special military operation.] The ideal scenario is to announce the end of the [special military operation], to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense we have actually achieved them. We have ground down a huge number of fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and we can report that the tasks of the [special military operation] have been completed,” he wrote.