Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country’s forces killed 21,000 mercenaries of the Russian “Wagner” group.
“Our forces have killed 21,000 Wagners in eastern Ukraine alone,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev, adding that 80,000 fighters of the Russian group were wounded.
The Ukrainian president’s remarks came during a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, who was on a visit to Kiev, the network reported.CNNwhich said it was unable to independently verify the claim.
“These were huge losses for the private military company Wagner,” Zelensky said, describing its fighters as “an enthusiastic crew from the Russian army” and mostly convicts who “have nothing to lose.”
The mercenary group has participated in the fighting in Ukraine, especially in the city of Bakhmut, which has been under Russian control, since last May, after months of fierce battles in the now destroyed town, which was inhabited before the war by about 80,000 people.
Zelensky’s comments about the human losses of the “Wagner” group come a week after an armed rebellion led by the mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against Moscow aimed at overthrowing the leaders in the official Russian military establishment.
Prigozhin led thousands of his private army nearly 1,000 kilometers across Russia without encountering any serious resistance and shot down at least seven military aircraft, killing at least 10 Russian Air Force personnel, according to the Associated Press.
Prigozhin said at the time that he and his soldiers approached Moscow at a distance of 200 km, before he ordered them to return under an agreement brokered by the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko.
During this lightning move, clashes took place, the circumstances of which are still ambiguous, between Wagner’s elements and the Russian forces in the Voronezh region, 450 km south of the Russian capital, an agricultural region known for its fertile “black soil”.
Under this agreement, “Wagner” fighters have the right to go to Belarus, join the regular Russian army, or return to civilian life, while the mercenary group must hand over its heavy weapons to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Zelensky said Prigozhin’s rebellion “significantly affected Russian power on the battlefield” and could be useful for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Ukraine has been leading a counterattack since the beginning of June to regain control of the lands seized by Moscow in the east and south, confirming at this stage that it has recovered about 10 towns.
Zelensky added: “We need to take advantage of this situation to expel the enemy from our land.”
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2023-07-02 13:39:05
