If Moscow thinks that a thousand mercenaries will suddenly be able to save its failed invasion of Ukraine, then it should seriously consider the combat effectiveness of its army as a whole.
Russia has sent to eastern Ukraine about a thousand mercenaries from the Wagner group, close to the Russian authorities. Actually, the militants of the group, one way or another , participated in the fighting in the Donbass since 2014. However, officials in the West doubt that sending them to the Eastern Front now will somehow change the course of the war.
“I doubt that a thousand Wagner mercenaries will be able to change the course of operations in Donbass,” an unnamed Western official told Business Insider.
Russia has suffered heavy losses in five weeks of fighting. NATO estimates that about 40,000 soldiers have been wounded or killed. At the same time, the output force before the invasion was 160,000 soldiers. In the vicinity of Kiev, the Russian army was forced to retreat. However, the aggressor continues to indiscriminately destroy Ukrainian cities, in particular Mariupol.
Read also: Russia stopped paying the military and mercenaries of PMC Wagner for the war in Ukraine – intelligence
The former mercenary said that recruitment to Ukraine began a few weeks before the start of the war . And in “Wagner” invited “everyone in a row”, even those who were expelled from other groups of mercenaries. Business Insider writes that the Kremlin-linked militants have a “terrible” reputation. According to the interlocutor of the publication, this time even high-ranking Wagner leaders were sent to Ukraine. Additional forces have been withdrawn from Syria and Africa.
In December 2021, sanctions were imposed on Wagner for “serious human rights violations in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the CAR, Sudan and Mozambique.” They were accused of “torture and extrajudicial or arbitrary executions.” However, as an unnamed official noted during a conversation with Business Insider, Wagner's formidable reputation is associated with violations of the law and the rules of warfare. Therefore, even greater involvement of mercenaries in the war against Ukraine can be a “big” risk for Russia, which may be unworthy.
“If someone sends a thousand Wagner soldiers, hoping that this will play a crucial role in the operations in the Donbass, then he needs to take a break and think carefully about the combat effectiveness of their troops in general,” – said the source.
