Putin Turns To Wagner Mercenaries For Support, U.S. Says

10 months into his invasion of Ukraine, Russia's Vladimir Putin is increasingly turning to the mercenary group Wagner for military support, the White House said Thursday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Wagner is spending more than $100 million per month to fund his group’s operations inside Ukraine, U.S. National Security Council's John Kirby said in a statement to reporters.

The White House estimates that Wagner currently has 50,000 personnel deployed to Ukraine, including 40,000 convicts from Russian prisons and the rest of them - 10,000 being contractors.

Kirby also said North Korea completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, and the latter paid for the equipment.

Washington plans to designate Wagner as a military end user to ensure it can’t access equipment anywhere in the world. Further sanctions against the group would be announced “in the coming weeks," Kirby said.

Separately, on Thursday the Biden administration sanctioned 10 Russian naval entities over attacks on Ukrainian ports.  “In the wake of Russian naval operations against Ukrainian ports, including those that are providing much-needed food and grain to the world, the United States today is imposing sanctions on Russian naval entities,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Alex Raufioglu

Washington D.C.