The Wagner Group’s centre in Saint Petersburg
(Picture: REUTERS)Vladimir Putin’s “private army” the Wagner Group now has up to 50,000 troops fighting in Ukraine, British defence chiefs said on Friday.
Military sources say the group is vying with the Russian regular army for supremacy in Putin’s chain of command.
Wagner 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 United States has estimated that among the 50,000 Wagner personnel deployed in Ukraine, 10,000 are contractors and 40,000 recruited convicts.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 20 January 2023
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 20, 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/5z9U167MxU
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/johkRTuMp8
In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “On 27 December 2022, the Russian Unified State Register showed that the proxy paramilitary Wagner Group had formally registered as a legal entity. The group declared their core activity as ‘management consultancy’; no mention was made of combat services.
“It is not yet clear to what extent the ‘PMC Wagner Centre’ entity will be used to administer Wagner’s paramilitary activity. Private Military Companies (PMCs) remain illegal in Russia, despite protracted discussion about reforming the law.”
The briefing added: “Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has likely partially funded the organisation via inflated government contracts awarded to his other companies.
“Prigozhin only admitted to founding Wagner in September 2022; in October 2022, it opened a glossy HQ in St Petersburg.
“Wagner almost certainly now commands up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the Ukraine campaign. The registration likely aims to maximise Prigozhin’s commercial gain and to further legitimise the increasingly high-profile organisation.”
The UK, US, Ukraine and its allies are fighting an information war against Putin’s regime so their briefings need to be treated with caution, however, they are far more believable than the propaganda issued by the Kremlin.
Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine said on Friday that Russian forces had taken control of Klishchiivka, a small settlement south of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
The claim was issued by Russian-backed forces in Donetsk, one of four regions that the Kremlin claims to have incorporated into Russia since the start of the Ukraine war in moves rejected as illegal by most members of the United Nations.
Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 400 people, is located around 6 miles (9 kms) south of Bakhmut, where units of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have been locked for months in a battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces.
Wagner said on Thursday it had taken Klishchiivka but this could not be confirmed.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia’s main target in Donetsk province, which combined with Luhansk province forms the Donbas.
Soledar, about 20 km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire - Russian forces say they control Soledar, while Ukrainian sources say their military is still fighting there.
“Ukrainian forces have practically stabilised the front around Bakhmut,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube.
“As of today, Russia is turning Soledar into a military hub. And they are trying to redirect troops towards the towns of Spirne and Bilohorivka - just inside the Luhansk region.”
