Russia is using one of Ukraine’s bloodiest battles to decimate the Wagner group after its boss started a feud with military leaders, experts say

• According to a DC-based think tank, Russia is using the Battle of Bakhmut to kill Wagner soldiers.

• The pro-Kremlin mercenary army has supported Russia’s military, but its leader has become more critical.

• The military is likely trying to “consume” Wagner troops and weaken the group’s leader, the ISW said.

Russia is using the battle for the town of Bakhmut to severely weaken a mercenary force that once bolstered its army but has become increasingly critical of its military leadership, according to the Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). .

The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city has become one of the bloodiest of the Russian invasion. And the Wagner Group, which has tens of thousands of mercenaries and former prisoners deployed in Ukraine, is heavily involved in the fighting.

In an update on Sundaythe ISW said the Russian Defense Ministry is likely to use the fight to significantly reduce the Wagner group as a feud between them escalates.

Yevgeny Prigozhinthe leader of the group, also known as Putin’s cook, is extremely critical of Russia’s military leadership.

And the ISW said that Russia’s leadership “is likely to seize the opportunity to deliberately deploy both elite and convict Wagner forces in Bakhmut to weaken Prigozhin and derail his ambitions for greater influence in the Kremlin.”

The think tank added that “Russia’s military leadership may seek to deploy Wagner forces – and Prigozhin’s influence – in Bakhmut.”

Wagner has played a growing role since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while at the same time Russia’s traditional military struggled. Over time, the military became more reliant on the group, with US officials said traditional forces had begun copying their brutal tactics.

But the two forces have been in one deepening of the public feud.

The ISW said that Putin’s use of the Wagner group likely angered Russia’s traditional military leadership, “which was then tasked with sharing limited equipment and ammunition with Wagner mercenaries.”

The story goes on

Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry have also fallen out over who should be credited for the Russian victories.

The ISW described Prigozhin as a “relentless smear campaign” against the Russian military.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also begun to distance himself from Prigozhin with the Wagner boss saying that he was “cut off” by Putin and that Russia’s military was refuse ammunition to his group and called it an “annihilation attempt” by Wagner.

The ISW noted that Prigozhin was previously able to recruit from Russian prisons, but that he “lost that permit and access to that labor pool in early 2023.”

The death toll in Bakhmut is high. Western officials treasure Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian soldiers were killed or injured there, although Russia is still making progress in its attempt to capture the city.

The ISW said given the high number of Wagner troops there, Russia’s leadership could not be bothered by the high death toll.

“The Russian military leadership could allow the Wagner group to incur heavy casualties at Bakhmut in order to simultaneously undermine Prigozhin’s influence while capturing the city at the expense of the Wagner troops.”

At the same time, Ukraine sees the brutal fighting in Bakhmut as an opportunity to decimate Wagner’s strength once and for all, they say The New York Times.

Ukrainians fighting in the city say this was the case a “living hell” for months while commanders on both sides have called the battle a “meat grinder”.

The This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense on Monday that half of the prisoners sent to Ukraine by the Wagner group since the beginning of the invasion were probably killed or wounded.

Continue reading the original article Business Insider