Wagner Suffered 30,000 Casualties In Ukraine, U.S. Estimates

Washington D.C./18.02.23/Turan:  The White House said on Friday that it estimates the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization run by Putin's confidant Yevgeny Prigogin, has suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine.

Of those, about 9,000 were killed in action and most of them had been convicts who had received little training or provisions, John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman said at a briefing.

"They're treating their recruits, largely convicts, basically as cannon fodder, throwing them into a literal meat grinder here, inhuman ways, without a second thought.” Kirby said.

The Biden Administration recently formally designated the Wagner Group as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.

According to Kirby, the paramilitary organisation continues to rely heavily on convicts to fill its ranks, while Moscow has relied on the group to conduct much of the fighting in Ukraine, particularly during the ongoing brutal battle for Bakhmut.

About half of the mercenaries were killed since mid-December: "Think about that. Two and a half months.... [4,500] killed as the fighting in Bakhmut has intensified," Kirby said, adding that these were men that Wagner “plucked out of prisons and threw on the battlefield with no training”.

“No equipping, no organisational command, just thrown into the fight,” he said.

Kirby was talking to reporters ahead of President Joe Biden's visit to Poland next week, where he will deliver remarks on the war to reiterate U.S. support for Ukraine that will last “as long as it takes”.

Biden will also meet with leaders of the Bucharest Nine, with members Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In the meeting, Biden will “reaffirm the United States’ unwavering support for the security of that alliance and transatlantic unity,” Kirby said.

Asked whether Biden would be prepared to give fighter jets to Ukraine, he suggested it might be something that is considered in the future: “We remain in constant communication with the Ukrainians about what their needs are... Those needs have evolved as the war has evolved, and we'll see where this goes.”

Alex Raufoglu