Russia's Wagner Group has suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, including about 9,000 fatalities, and the paramilitary organisation continues to rely heavily on convicts to fill its ranks, the White House said on Friday.
Wagner is widely known to be a proxy for the Russian military and is thought to be financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a friend of President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow has relied on Wagner to conduct much of the fighting in Ukraine, particularly during the ongoing brutal battle for Bakhmut.
“I do want to say this about the Wagner Group, in particularly with respect to Bakhut: They're treating their recruits, largely convicts, basically as cannon fodder, throwing them into a literal meat grinder here … without a second thought,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He said most of those killed had been convicts who had received little training or provisions.
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A tank, seen left, fires a round in Soledar, a town in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Reuters -
Tank fire in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters -
Firefighters work to put out a blaze at a Kharkiv fireworks storage site after it was struck by a Russian missile. Getty -
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, visits his troops on the frontline in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters -
A Ukrainian flag attached to a tank flutters in the wind in Bakhmut. Reuters -
A specialist from an emergency crew works on a residential building in Donetsk that was damaged in recent shelling. Reuters -
A missile fragment left by shelling in Russian-controlled Donetsk. AP -
Residents remove debris and carry their belongings out of a building destroyed by recent shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian forces fire an anti-aircraft weapon as Russia's attack on the frontline city of Bakhmut continues. Reuters -
A car drives past a destroyed building purported to have been used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers, dozens of whom were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike in Makiivka, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters -
The site of a temporary barracks for Russian soldiers in Makiivka, which was destroyed in a Ukrainian missile attack. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman carries his injured comrade from the battlefield to a hospital in the Donetsk region. AP -
Smoke rises after shelling in Soledar, the site of heavy battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk region. AP
These were men that Wagner “plucked out of prisons and threw on the battlefield with no training”.
“No equipping, no organisational command, just thrown into the fight,” Mr Kirby said.
He was speaking before President Joe Biden's visit to Poland next week, when he will reiterate US support for Ukraine that will last “as long as it takes”.
Asked whether Mr Biden would be prepared to give fighter jets to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has asked western allies for such aircraft, Mr Kirby suggested it might be something that is considered in the future.
“We remain in constant communication with the Ukrainians about what their needs are,” he said.
“Those needs have evolved as the war has evolved, and we'll see where this goes.”
The US last month formally designated Russia's Wagner Group as a transnational “significant” criminal organisation and imposed sanctions on numerous entities associated with it.
