Even as the Russia-Ukraine war is on, 62-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin who heads the Wagner mercenaries has said, “We are going…
Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin (Photo: Reuters)
Even as the Russia-Ukraine war is on, 62-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin who heads the Wagner mercenaries has said, “We are going onwards and we will go to the end (against Russia). We will destroy everything.” This was Prigozhin’s direct challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin ever since the war began.
The whole issue has snowballed due to the credit for the capturing of a town in Donetsk, Ukraine. While the Wagner group says, they captured the town, the counterclaims have resulted in a fight between the Wagner group and Russian forces.
What is a Wagner Group
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The Wagner Group otherwise called PMC Wagner, is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is a private military company filled with mercenaries. The group first came to light in 2014 when it backed pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
Back then this organization mostly operated in the Middle-East and Africa. As per the reports the Wagner group was then believed to have about 5,500 fighters from Russian special forces.
But suddenly in January reports came in that the Wagner Group now consisted of about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine.
It is said that the Wagner Group was involved in Russia’s capture of Bakhmut city which is situated in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has now said that the head of the Wagner group mounted an armed uprising and his arrest was ordered due to growing enmity between rival camps in Kremlin over the war in Ukraine.
Now, the Wagner chief has made a commitment to take all necessary steps to topple the country’s top military leadership in Moscow.
In January this year, while Prigozhin claimed that the town of Soledar in Donetsk of Ukraine was captured by them, it was the Russian Defense Ministry who tried to put their name to Wagner’s achievement.
There were also videos showing the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov saying that Russia failed to provide them with ammunition.
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