Published February 18,2023
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Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has suffered greater than 30,000 casualties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine final February, with about 9,000 of these fighters killed in motion, the United States has claimed.
The US estimates that 90 % of Wagner Group fighters killed in Ukraine since December 2022 have been convicts, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby advised reporters at an everyday briefing on Friday.
Half of the general deaths amongst Wagner mercenaries have occurred since mid-December, as combating in Ukraine’s japanese metropolis of Bakhmut intensified, based on US intelligence.
Kirby stated the mercenary group had made incremental good points in and round Bakhmut over the previous couple of days however these advances had taken many months to realize and got here at a “devastating cost that is not sustainable”.
“It is possible that they may end up being successful in Bakhmut but it will prove of no real worth to them because it is of no real strategic value,” he stated, including that Ukrainian forces would keep robust defensive traces throughout the Donbas area.
Kirby advised reporters that Wagner continued to rely closely on convicts, who have been despatched to warfare with out coaching or gear, regardless of latest feedback from Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin that he had stopped recruiting Russian prisoners to battle in Ukraine.
The United Kingdom’s ministry of defence estimates Russian forces have probably suffered as much as roughly 200,000 casualties because the begin of their invasion of Ukraine.
“The high Russian casualty rate, especially the high ratio of deaths to injuries, continues to have deleterious effects on the Russian military’s combat effectiveness and is likely prompting Russian officials to continue crypto-mobilization efforts,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based suppose tank, stated on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Wagner chief Prigozhin has claimed the settlement of Paraskoviivka north of Bakhmut was utterly managed by his forces, the Russian company Interfax reported on Friday.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
