THE boss of a Russian military contractor threatened to pull his troops out of the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut today, claiming his forces were being starved of ammunition.

Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with longstanding links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that his soldiers had planned to capture the city on May 9 to mark to defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

But he said that his forces had not received enough artillery ammunition supplies from the Russian military since Monday, and were suffering heavy losses as a result.