IAccording to the US government, tens of thousands of mercenaries from the Russian “Wagner” combat group are stationed in Ukraine. It is estimated that 50,000 mercenaries are currently deployed in Ukraine, including 40,000 convicts, White House communications director John Kirby said in Washington on Thursday. In the past few weeks alone, around 1,000 “Wagner” fighters have been killed in battles. Around 90 percent of them were convicts, Kirby said. The prisoners came from Russian prisons. In certain cases, the Russian military is under the command of the “Wagner” group.
Kirby also stated that “North Korea has completed an initial arms shipment to ‘Wagner'” – the mercenary group paid for it. “We assume that the amount of material supplied to ‘Wagner’ will not change the dynamics on the battlefield and in Ukraine, but we are certainly concerned that North Korea is planning to supply more military equipment .”
“It’s despicable”
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said North Korea had delivered the weapons last month. “It is despicable that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council – in violation of UN Security Council resolutions – is now using weapons from North Korea and Iran to conduct its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Thomas-Greenfield said.