Prigozhin called Putin "mentally ill" and told the truth about who "bombed Donbass for 8 years" (video)

The founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has made new scandalous statements in which he criticised the war and the Russian leadership. He also admitted the truth about who "bombed Donbas for 8 years".

A video of his interview was posted on Prigozhin's Telegram channel. In it, he said that Ukraine had not shelled the Donetsk region since 2014, when Russian militants entered the region. He also said that Ukraine did not plan to attack Russia with the help of NATO troops.

"How did the so-called SVO begin? In 2014, there was a military coup, a rebellion in Ukraine. the Russians began to be pressured, they went to Donbas, we defended Donbas, and then we had to go out in autumn 2014 and occupy the borders of Slaviansk, Kramatorsk, etc. along the border of the 'LPR', 'DPR'. But then it was put on hold because the army was not ready, because it did not know whether it could cope," he began his story.

After 2014, Prigozhin says, "Donbas was being robbed" by various people - some of them were from the Russian presidential administration, some from the FSB, and oligarchs.

"These are people who stole money from Donbas residents from the 'LPR' and 'DNR'. There were people's militia corps there that were supposed to give a decent fight back in case of attacks by Ukrainians. However, they did not exist in fact... And a certain number of generals simply siphoned off the money," Prigozhin said.

Read also: Intelligence explains Prigozhin's role in the war against Ukraine

The founder of the Wagner PMC added that since 2014, the Ukrainian military has been responding to active Russian shelling with shots. He called it "skirmishes" and "exchange of ammunition".

Before Putin's announcement of the so-called "SVO", there was nothing out of the ordinary, Prigozhin said.

According to him, the Russian defence ministry was "deceiving" Russians and their president that there was "insane aggression" on the part of Ukraine and NATO and an attack was being prepared.

He then went on to criticise the Russian army under Shoigu, which had been "doing nothing" since 2012: "In Russia, the army was in such a dilapidated state that it could not conduct any large-scale military operations."

Prigozhin also took a swipe at the Kremlin leadership: "What was the war for? The war was needed so that a bunch of creatures could simply trade and promote themselves, showing what a strong army they are, so that Shoigu could get a marshal and a hero's star. The oligarchic clan that runs Russia needed the war. They needed the war to put Medvedchuk in office as president of Ukraine."

"All so that one person, a mentally ill person, when he lies in the coffin, will have this star on his pillow," he said.

Read also: Putin's chef once again announced the capture of Bakhmut: Ukrainian Armed Forces deny (video)

Then, the chief Russian Wagnerian denied the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defence regarding the destruction of equipment that Ukraine received from its Western partners: "No one destroyed 60 Leopards. This is complete and utter nonsense. the Russian army is retreating in all directions," he admitted.

Earlier, the owner of the Russian private military company Wagner called the Ukrainian army one of the strongest in the world.

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