Russia-supporting Wagner Group mercenary numbers soar

[Kennah]

Source: BBC

Fighters from Russia's mercenary Wagner Group have ballooned from 1,000 to nearly 20,000 in Ukraine, British government officials say, a sign of Russia's growing reliance on the military contractor in support of its invasion.

Russia is widely believed to be struggling to recruit soldiers and maintain morale. The West estimates Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers and President Vladimir Putin launched a recruitment drive in September to boost numbers.

Meanwhile, Russia has suffered a series of setbacks on the battlefield and UK officials believe Russia is turning to the Wagner group as a consequence. The private military company is now actively promoting its role in the war. As is its main backer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man once known as Putin's chef. But, so far, Wagner's bark seems to be proving worse than its bite.

The BBC has been briefed by UK officials who've been tracking the activities of the Wagner Group. They say the group is now playing a much higher profile role in the war in Ukraine. But officials add that Wagner has also traded "quality for quantity" and is now facing the same challenges and losses on the battlefield as the wider Russian military.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64050719

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Prigozhin's elite group is turning into yet another Russian military unit.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Mercenaries don't fight b/c they believe in a "cause".

They fight because they're paid well enough.

They fight because they know how to do it well.

They fight because they've been in battle before and appreciate the adrenalin rush that comes with it. (No PTSD here)

They fight because Life without war is boring.

They fight because battle and war are akin to a football game with bullets and stuff.


I had a friend who was a Vietnam War veteran. In 1979, he was living in Germany. The only time he got to shoot was in the Jaegers. He was trying to find a way to join mercenaries to fight in South Africa -- and I don't mean against the Afrikaners. He would have been fighting to support and strengthen apartheid. He didn't care. It was a job.

[KS Toronado]

3. There probably are people who enjoy killing

that are joining the Wagner Group, wonder how many are U.S. reQublicans? Wonder if they disclose that
information? Overall I suspect their numbers are down because most don't believe in Putler's "cause".

[oldsoftie]

6. Id bet any US wannabes would quickly change their mind when confronted by reality.

The old "I didnt sign up for THIS shit" regret.

[KS Toronado]

7. Exactly what I thought when I got orders for Vietnam.

[mitch96]

21. Yup, they don't think of life with out an arm or leg.. How about shitting in a bag for the rest

of your life? Brain damaged??
Nope, just keyboard commandoes.. All edge no point... pizza cutters..
m

[PortTack]

18. True, but they are currently recruiting out of Russian prisons, many are enlisted without a choice

Yes, some are pretty good fighters, just as many are just cannon fodder

[lapfog_1]

2. wagner group recruiting video

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. 1,000 soldiers, 19,000 cannon fodder. . . . . nt

[Lovie777]

5. And they are dying .......

[Beastly Boy]

8. Putin beware!

If Prigozhin cant handle a superior Ukrainian army, what’s to stop him from taking on a conveniently situated weaker force for a greater prize (hint hint)?
After all, he is just a mercenary.

[Kennah]

23. How To Serve Putin

It's a cookbook!

[nuxvomica]

9. IIRC, Wagner has been conscripting from prisons

Not a good strategy for a quality fighting force.

[Warpy]

14. They're the main force around Bakhmut

and they're dying at an average of 500 per day and gaining absolutely nothing. Any advances into that city have been temporary, they've generally been kicked back out within 48 hours.

A quality fighting force, adequately supplied and adequately backed up by air support and artillery, would not be in that situation.

They're recruiting prisoners just to have warm bodies to throw into a meat grinder. They know volunteers have been thinned out. Putin's idea was to overwhelm them with infantry. Now Russia is being overwhelmed by corpses.

[keithbvadu2]

10. Erik Prince

[Evolve Dammit]

16. connected? My first thought too.

[IronLionZion]

12. There are some Americans fighting on the Russian side

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_fighters_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Far-right_volunteers

They've gotten misguided people from all over the former Soviet countries, Europe, and other places even North America.

But thankfully more Americans are on the Ukrainian side.

[keithbvadu2]

25. Sign up?

[IronLionZion]

26. They're supporting a country that launched cyberattacks on the US

so they are supporting a US adversary. Traitors

[mopinko]

13. i'd love to see this outfit just crushed.

a beating for a bunch of mercenary thugs seems as important as beating the russian army.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. This is very much what happened in African and Chechen deployments of Wagner Group.

They are an absolutely ruthless gang of terrorists for hire. They are not bound by any laws as a national army would be.

[mitch96]

22. "They are not bound by any laws as a national army would be." This is good for putin....

The old "plausible deniability".
m

[Ford_Prefect]

24. The Russian Blackwater/Xe Services: Anything, Any time, Anywhere, Any way we want to do it.

No questions asked as long as you have the cash up front.

[paleotn]

17. They're the only ones holding the line

in Bakhmut and other places. Without them, Russian lines would crumble, since they burned most of their experienced troops and have limited options in refilling the ranks. BUT....Wagner is taking massive casualties. The near daily frontal assaults in Bakhmut are thinning their ranks every day. That's got to be having an impact on their moral and cohesiveness. Thug life can only go so far in that regard.

[Javaman]

19. Offer them a better price and watch them melt away. nt

[blue-wave]

20. Well, now that Wagner Group has emptied

all the Russian prisons for cannon fodder, there is plenty of room for Vlad and his Kremlin genocidal maniacs. To all good citizens who are left in Russia: Time to get to work. Fill those prisons again with criminals from the Kremlin.