According to US government estimates, about 9,000 soldiers of the Wagner mercenary group have already been killed in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. About half the men have fallen since mid-December, National Security Council communications director John Kirby said yesterday at the White House.
According to US intelligence, around 30,000 of Wagner’s troops have been wounded or killed since the war began nearly a year ago. War zone information can hardly be verified by an independent party.
Kirby said of Wagner’s troupe, led by Russian Yevgeny Prigozhin – a confidant of President Vladimir Putin – “They treat their recruits – most of them convicts – basically like cannon fodder. They literally throw them through a meat grinder, inhumanely. , without hesitation.” He was also referring to the current intense fighting around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Wagner mercenaries are also deployed there.