US government: tens of thousands of 'Wagner' mercenaries stationed in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tens of thousands of mercenaries from the Russian "Wagner" fighting group are stationed in Ukraine, according to the U.S. government. It is estimated that 50,000 mercenaries are currently deployed in Ukraine, including 40,000 convicts, White House communications director John Kirby said Thursday in Washington. About 1,000 "Wagner" fighters have been killed in fighting in recent weeks alone, he said. About 90 percent of them were convicts, Kirby said. The prisoners were from Russian prisons. In certain cases, he said, the Russian military was under the command of the "Wagner" group.

Kirby also stated that "North Korea completed an initial arms shipment to "Wagner" - the mercenary group paid for it." "We assume that the amount of material delivered to "Wagner" will not change the dynamics on the battlefield and in Ukraine, but we are certainly concerned that North Korea plans to deliver more military equipment."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said North Korea delivered the weapons last month. "It is abhorrent that Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council - in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions - is now using weapons from North Korea and Iran to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine," Thomas-Greenfield said.

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, known for his close ties to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, had in September for the first time directly admitted publicly to having founded the notorious mercenary force. He had formed the unit in 2014 for deployment on the Russian side in Ukraine's Donbass, Prigozhin explained. He also confirmed deployments of the "Wagner" group in Syria, other Arab countries, and Africa and Latin America. "Wagner" mercenaries were also in Sudan, Mali and Libya, according to the statement. Putin had always denied that the mercenary group was formed at the behest of the Kremlin and used to support the Russian army.

Prigozhin was "literally putting people through the meat grinder" in Ukraine, Kirby said. He has no regard for human lives, certainly not Ukrainian ones. "But I would go so far as to say not Russian ones either," Kirby said. He announced that the U.S. government would impose new sanctions on the mercenary force./nau/DP/zb