Prigozhin believes Ukraine has one of world's strongest armies
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company (PMC), believes that Ukraine has one of the strongest armies in the world now; but the world's first army, in his opinion, is Wagner.
Source: Prigozhin in an interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist
Quote: "We barged in and stomped all over the place in search of Nazis. While we were looking for the Nazis, we beat up everyone we could, then we went to Kyiv, then we f**ked up and moved on. Then on to Kherson. F**ked up and moved on. After that or before that? At times I get confused – Izium, Lyman... And somehow nothing works out for us.
The special operation [the war in Ukraine – ed.] was carried out for denazification and demilitarisation. The Ukrainians were just a former republic of the USSR. They had the Ukrainian language, and everyone respected it, including those in the USSR.
So as far as denazification goes… we have made Ukraine a nation that’s known to everyone worldwide. Ukraine has become a country that is known absolutely everywhere. It's like the Greeks during the heyday of Greece. We have legitimised Ukraine.
Now, as for demilitarisation… they had, say, 500 tanks at the start of the special operation, now they have 5,000 tanks. They had 20,000 people who could fight back then, now 400,000 can. In what way have we demilitarised it [Ukraine]? It turns out we did the opposite – we f**king militarised it."
Details: Prigozhin also called the Ukrainian army one of the strongest in the world, although in his opinion, the "first" army is the Wagner PMC.
Quote: "We’ve fought in a lot of places, with a lot of people. We know how the Americans fight, the French, the cowardly UN troops, African tribes. Today, the Wagner PMC is the best army in the world. We beat everyone, always. But after it [Wagner]... I think that the Ukrainians today are one of the strongest armies. They have a high level of organisation, training, weapons, and intelligence. They use Soviet and NATO [weapons] equally successfully. They’re philosophical about the losses they suffer. Everything they do is to achieve the supreme goal, like we did during the Second World War. But with more technology and more precision."
More details: The Wagner leader also said that he "listened to Putin", and that Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defence Minister, should be fired.
Quote: "If the system is built on the fact that you have to kiss someone's ass, then the Wagner PMC will not do this. The main problem is Shoigu and Gerasimov. These two people blocked everything for us by their decisions, even though the president said ammo was available.
If [Colonel General Mikhail] Mizintsev became defence minister today and Surovikin became the chief of the General Staff, then it would be a decent structure. [Mizintsev is deputy commander of the Wagner PMC – ed.]
My political creed is: I love my homeland, I listen to Putin, Shoigu should be fired, we will keep fighting."
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