Wagner boss Prigozhin said 10,000 prisoners, one-fifth of the group's recruits from Russian prisons, died on the battlefield in Ukraine.
"I recruited 50,000 prisoners, 20% of whom died," the head of the private security group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin said on May 23.
Mr. Prigozhin added that members who signed contracts with Wagner in the usual way also suffered similar mortality rates, but he did not give specific figures.
Wagner's leadership accused Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov of "incompetence, which led to huge losses." He also called on Russian military officials to send their children to the front.
"Tens of thousands of people have suffered the pain of losing their loved ones and perhaps that number could reach hundreds of thousands. We cannot avoid this fact," Mr. Prigozhin said.
Head of the Wagner security group Yevgeny Prigozhin with former prisoners who were pardoned in this photo released on January 5. Photo: RIA Novosti
According to Wagner, his forces will withdraw from the city of Bakhmut by June 1 and hand over control to the Russian regular army. On May 20, Mr. Prigozhin announced that Wagner had taken full control of Bakhmut. This was confirmed by Russia, but denied by Ukraine, which stated that its forces continued to fight in the western suburbs of Bakhmut, despite the difficult situation.
The White House estimated earlier this month that 20,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and 80,000 wounded in five months of fighting on the eastern front, particularly at the Bakhmut battlefield. The Kremlin rejected the US officials' estimates, saying Washington "cannot give any exact figures because there is no data."
The last time Russia announced casualties on the Ukrainian battlefield was in September 2022. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu then announced that 5,937 Russian soldiers had died.
Boss Wagner has repeatedly criticized Russian military leaders, accusing them of causing his forces to suffer heavy casualties due to lack of ammunition.
Since August 2022, Mr. Prigozhin has been openly recruiting Russian prisoners, going directly to prisons to persuade them to sign contracts to serve his forces in Ukraine. In return, they will be pardoned after 6 months of fighting.
Wagner leaders said on March 25 that more than 5,000 prisoners had been pardoned after completing their combat contracts. Prigozhin said that only 0.31% of the pardoned prisoners had reoffended. This was 10-20% lower than the group of prisoners pardoned under the regular pardon program.
Ngoc Anh (According to AFP )
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