Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group were deployed in eastern Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said on Monday (03.28.2022), which estimates that there are more than 1,000 fighters from the private paramilitary company fighting in the country.
“The Russian private military company of the Wagner group has been deployed in eastern Ukraine,” the ministry said on Twitter.
“More than 1,000 mercenaries were deployed, including those responsible for the organization, to carry out combat operations.”
Considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Wagner group and its paramilitaries are suspected of having committed abuses in Mali, Libya and Syria.
Due to heavy losses and a long-stalled invasion, Russia has most likely been forced to prioritize its Wagner personnel in Ukraine to the detriment of its operations in Africa and Syria.
Offensive concentrated in Donbas
In mid-March, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that Russia had established lists of 40,000 Syrian army and armed militia fighters ready to be deployed to Ukraine.
According to a Western official on Friday, Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region, where they are facing the “most equipped and most trained sector of the Ukrainian forces.”
In response, according to this source, “the separatist forces, with a reinforcement of Russian troops and Wagner group personnel in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, are trying to surround them.”
The Wagner group is part of the list of 59 Russian personalities and companies subject to a new series of sanctions decreed by the British government in reaction to the invasion of Ukraine launched at the end of February.
jc (afp, ap)