Tension between the Wagner Group and Russianarmy is likely to have been a key factor in the termination of the prisoner recruitment scheme, British defence chiefs have said.
Last summer, in an attempt to bolster Russia’s forces as the invasion stalled, Yegenvy Prigozhin who established the private mercenary group toured prisons on a recruitment drive.
The mercenary group, often termed as Vladimir Putin’s “private army” is estimated to have up to 50,000 personnel deployed in Ukraine and has been accused of committing atrocities in Ukraine, namely during the fighting in Bakhmut.
On February 9, Prigozhin said the prisoner scheme was now over. In its latest update, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said there had been a fall in the rate of recruitment since December 2022.
The MoD said: “News of the harsh realities of Wagner service in Ukraine has probably filtered through to inmates and reduced the number of volunteers.
“A key factor in the termination of the scheme is likely increasingly direct rivalry between the Russian Ministry of Defence and Wagner.
“The regular Russian military has likely now also deployed the vast majority of the reservists called up under ‘partial mobilisation’.”
Previously, Wanger mercenaries are reported to have played a key role in seizing the salt mine town of Soledar in the eastern Donbas region.
They are renowned for their brutality, including reportedly executing Russian soldiers who refuse to fight against Ukrainian forces.
The Wagner Group has been designated as a significant transnational criminal organisation by the Pentagon while Prigozhin, often referred to as Putin’s chef, has been sanctioned by the UK Government.
The latest update comes after Volodymyr Zelensky visited London on Wednesday, where he pleaded for Britain and other allies to send fighter jets, and later witnessed Ukrainian troops being trained in Dorset.
Ukrainian tank crews are being trained as quickly as possible in the UK to use Challenger II tanks, with 14 of them set to be sent to the battlefield.
Elsewhere, A new offensive by Vladimir Putin within weeks in Ukraine will probably “fail in bloody fashion” leaving his army’s morale at risk of cracking and being defeated, the ex-head of the British Army said on Thursday.
Lord Dannatt believes that the Ukrainian armed forces, supplied with heavy weapons from the West, will be ready to launch a counter-offensive as Putin’s troops are “reeling” from setbacks on the battlefield.
British Challenger II tanks, and Leopard 2s supplied by other European nations, may be delivered in time for Ukraine to use to seize back territory.
Lord Dannatt told Talk TV: “We are going to see a fresh Russian offensive in the coming weeks and months, probably as winter eases in Ukraine.
“With the equipment that has already been provided to the Ukrainians and their own determination, that Russian offensive will in all probability fail, and probably fail in a rather bloody fashion.
“That’s then the moment for the Ukrainians to mount a counter-offensive, to strike while the Russians in a sense are reeling from their own imminent defeat.”
