Kyiv CNN —
Wagner Group fighters have become the disposable infantry of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, but a Ukrainian military intelligence document provided to CNN details how effective they were — and how difficult — in the area around the town of Bakhmut it is to fight them.
Wagner is a private military contractor run by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been highly visible on the front lines in recent weeks – and always quick to demand credit for Russian advances. Wagner fighters were heavily involved in taking Soledar, a few miles northeast of Bakhmut, and areas around the city.
The December 2022 Ukrainian report concludes that Wagner poses a unique threat at close range, even if he suffers extraordinary casualties. “The deaths of thousands of Wagner soldiers do not matter to Russian society,” the report said.
“Assault Groups will not withdraw without orders… A team’s withdrawal without authorization or unwounded will be punishable by execution on the spot.”
Phone transcripts obtained by a Ukrainian intelligence source and shared with CNN also indicate a ruthless attitude on the battlefield. In one, a soldier can be heard talking about another who tried to surrender to the Ukrainians.
“The Wagnerians caught him and cut off his damn balls,” says the soldier.
CNN cannot independently authenticate the call, which allegedly took place in November.
According to Ukrainian estimates, wounded Wagner fighters often remain on the battlefield for hours. “The Assault Infantry must not carry the wounded off the battlefield alone, as their main task is to continue the attack until the objective is reached. If the attack fails, retreat is only allowed at night.”
Despite a brutal indifference to casualties – demonstrated by Prigozhin himself – the Ukrainian analysis says that Wagner’s tactics are “the only ones that are effective for the poorly trained mobilized troops that make up the majority of Russia’s ground forces.”
It suggests that the Russian Army may even be adjusting its tactics to become more Wagner-like, saying: “Assault units are proposed instead of the classic tactical battalion groups of the Russian Armed Forces.”
This would be a significant change from the traditional Russian reliance on larger, mechanized units.
According to telephone recordings by the Ukrainian secret service, some mobilized troops are considering switching to Wagner. In one such listening device, a soldier contrasts Wagner with his unit and says, “It’s damn heaven and earth. So if I fucking serve up, I better serve up there.”
The Ukrainian report says Wagner deploys its forces in mobile groups of about a dozen or fewer, using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and exploiting real-time drone intelligence, which the report describes as a “key element.”
Another tool the Wagner soldiers have at their disposal is the use of Motorola communications equipment, according to the document.
Motorola told CNN that it had suspended all sales to Russia and ceased operations there.
Convicts – tens of thousands of them recruited by Wagner – often form the first wave of attacks and claim the heaviest casualties – up to 80% according to Ukrainian officials.
More experienced fighters with thermal imaging and night vision goggles will follow.
For the Ukrainians, their own drone intelligence is crucial to prevent their trenches from being overwhelmed by shell attacks. The document reports an incident in December in which a drone spotted an advancing Wagner group and allowed Ukrainian defenses to eliminate them before their troops could fire grenade launchers.
If the Wagner forces manage to take a position, the artillery support allows them to dig foxholes and consolidate their gains, but these foxholes are very vulnerable to attack in open country. And again – according to Ukrainian wiretapping – there is often a lack of coordination between Wagner and the Russian military. During a tapped call – also undetectable – a soldier informed his father that his unit had mistakenly turned off a Wagner vehicle.
Prigozhin has repeatedly insisted that his fighters were responsible for capturing the town of Soledar and nearby settlements over the past week, the first Russian military gains in months. “No units other than Wagner PMC agents were involved in the storming of Soledar,” he claimed.
Wagner’s performance is Prigozhin’s path to greater resources and is instrumental in his ongoing struggle with the Russian military establishment, which he has frequently criticized as inept and corrupt.
According to British intelligence, Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov gave the order to better challenge soldiers. Prigozhin replied that “War is the time of the active and brave, and not the clean-shaven.”
Commenting on the new Gerasimov strictures on Monday, the British Ministry of Defense said: “Russian forces continue to suffer operational blockades and heavy casualties; Gerasimov’s prioritization of largely small regulations should confirm the fears of his many skeptics in Russia.”
Gerasimov was appointed supreme commander of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine earlier this month amid mounting criticism of its faltering progress.
As long as the Russian Defense Ministry underperforms, Prigozhin will stay on his heels and demand more resources for Wagner.
The group also appears to be able to acquire weapons in other ways. US officials said last week Wagner obtained weapons from North Korea. “Last month, North Korea shipped infantry missiles and missiles to Russia to be used by Wagner,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Prigozhin is not lacking in ambition. Standing in Soledar last week, he declared that Wagner is probably “the most experienced army in the world” today.
He claimed his forces already had multiple launch missile systems, their own air defenses, and artillery.
Prigozhin also drew a subtle comparison between Wagner and the top-down rigidity of the Russian military, saying that “everyone who is on the ground is being listened to. Commanders consult with the fighters, and the leadership of the PMC (Private Military Company) consults with the commanders.”
“That’s why the Wagner PMC has advanced and will continue to advance.”
Two months ago, Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, compared Prigozhin’s growing influence to that of Grigory Rasputin in the court of Tsar Nicholas II. “Putin needs military effectiveness at all costs,” he told Current Time TV.
“There is a negative, devilish charisma in it [Prigozhin], and in a way that charisma can rival that of Putin. Putin needs him now in this capacity, in this form.”
Prigozhin seems to have been intrigued by the comparison to Rasputin, a mystical figure who treated the tsar’s son for hemophilia, the bleeding disease. But in comments published by his company Concord this weekend, he had his own signature twist.
“Unfortunately, I don’t staunch the flow of blood. I bleed the enemies of our motherland. And not by incantations, but by direct contact with them.”