Wagner Group's use in Ukraine is exhausting Russian mercenary forces

• As the Russian military struggles in Ukraine, Moscow is increasingly relying on private military contractors.
• The protagonists of them are fighters of the Wagner Group, a shadowy network with close ties to the Kremlin.
• The intensity of the fighting with the Ukrainian army dealt a heavy blow to Wagner.

The Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor, has fought alongside and often replacing Russian forces in Ukraine.

But the Wagner group in Moscow and its reliance on mercenaries are exhausting the notorious private military company, according to a recent assessment by the British military intelligence agency.

Ukrainian Wagner Group

A destroyed Russian T-90M tank in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on May 9.

REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be hoping for a quick victory to overthrow the government in Kyiv, but has seen his vaunted army fail again and again in Ukraine.

The Kremlin is now limiting its ambitions, relying more on the Wagner Group to compensate for the lackluster performance of the Russian army and the appalling losses suffered by the regular army.

In its July 18th update on the war, the UK Ministry of Defense said Moscow was using the Wagner Group to “strengthen frontline forces” in Ukraine to address troop generation problems caused by heavy Russian casualties. rated as relieved.

The total number of Russian casualties in the six months after the war has not been published, and estimates vary, with U.S. estimates ranging from 70,000 to 80,000 total, and Ukrainian estimates of 50,000 dead Tens of thousands more are injured or missing.

Massive Russian casualties and Moscow’s inability to regenerate troops undermined the army’s ability to conduct large-scale offensive operations. These factors make Wagner his group and its mercenaries a more attractive option for the Kremlin.

A soldier stands by the mock grave of Russian President Vladimir Putin near Zaporizhia, Ukraine, on May 9.

Rick Mave/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In addition to the legal complexities of that approach — captured mercenaries are not protected by the Geneva Conventions, for example — the expanded role is likely to have negative consequences for Wagner and the Russian campaign as a whole.

In fact, the Wagner Group also appears to have suffered heavy casualties in Ukraine. In mid-August, Ukrainian forces used US-provided HIMARS rockets to attack the front headquarters of a mercenary group in the Luhansk region.

The attack reportedly killed and injured Wagner Group fighters. “There is no more Wagner headquarters in Popasna. Thank you Himal and the Ukrainian army!” Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksiy Honcharenko said after the strike.

Like any regular military force in Russia, the Wagner Group has been forced to lower its standards in order to replenish its ranks. Mercenary groups draw information from unconventional sources, including prisoners promised freedom in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian officer overlooks a Russian military grave near Kharkov on May 9.

Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

‘The training available to recruits is very limited,’ says Defense Ministry Said In the July 18 evaluation, addition This trend “will very likely affect the group’s future operational effectiveness, and reduce its value as a prop to the regular Russian military”.

Wagner’s forces are supporting regular Russian forces in achieving their current Moscow objectives, including the occupation of Severodonetsk and Lischensk this summer, which will give Russia control over the Luhansk region. rice field.

During these operations, Evgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch believed to oversee the Wagner Group, was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. That award, and Wagner’s growing role in the war, came as senior Russian commanders were dismissed and replaced due to the poor performance of their troops.

The Ministry of Defense said the Kremlin’s increasing reliance on the Wagner Group and other private military companies “is likely to exacerbate dissatisfaction between the military and Wagner” and “has a negative impact on the morale of the Russian military.” It can have a detrimental effect,” he said. Said In the July 18th evaluation.

wagner group

President Putin and Evgeny Prigozhin at a factory outside St. Petersburg in September 2010.

AFP by Alexei Druzhinin/SPUTNIK/Getty Images

Wagner and other mercenary groups, many of which stem from the post-Soviet military exodus, are closely tied to Moscow’s powerful interests.

The Kremlin’s internal structure—intelligence services, military, oligarchs competing for resources and influence—created the perfect conditions for Wagner’s rise and growth.

Wagner has earned Putin’s goodwill and international notoriety for every battlefield operation of the past decade, including conflicts in Libya, Mali, Syria, the Central African Republic and Ukraine.

Wagnerian mercenaries have also engaged US forces, most notably in 2018 when Wagnerian and Syrian pro-establishment fighters attacked outposts stationed by US and Kurdish forces in northeast Syria.

US forces quickly dealt with the attackers, killing hundreds, including many Wagner members.

Syrian and Russian soldiers at a checkpoint in Damascus in March 2018.

Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

Outside Ukraine, the U.S. is watching Mr. Wagner closely, especially in Africa, where Mr. Wagner is Moscow’s “main force of action,” General Stephen Townsend said at a defense press conference in late July. spoke at the event.

Wagner has about 1,000 fighters in Mali, the Central African Republic where “basically they support the government”, although the group deploys “sophisticated” radar and air defense systems. Townsend, who stepped down as commander of U.S. Africa Command in August.

Townsend said Wagner recruited mercenaries from Africa, primarily Libya, to support operations in Ukraine.

When Russian troops “got into trouble in Ukraine,” Townsend said, “they asked for help, and Prigozhin was tasked with sending fighters there.”

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a Defense Journalist specializing in Special Operations, a Greek Army Veteran (575th Marine Battalion and National Service in Army Headquarters), and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. He is currently working towards his master’s degree in strategy and cybersecurity at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.