The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner announced on Friday the opening of 58 recruitment centers in 42 cities across Russia, as he seeks to replenish his troops which are suffering heavy losses in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner group is on the front line in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmout, and its boss, Yevgeny Prigojine, has himself admitted that many fighters from his organization have been killed there.
Against a backdrop of tensions with the Defense Minister, Mr. Prigojine has repeatedly complained that he can no longer recruit in Russian prisons, where Wagner enlisted prisoners on a massive scale in exchange for reduced sentences. Changing tactics, he recently turned to sports halls to open recruitment points there to attract potential recruits.
The main information to remember:
- The paramilitary group Wagner is opening 58 recruitment centers in 42 Russian cities, after losing many of its soldiers in the war with Ukraine.
- The Norwegian Chief of Staff, Eirik Kristoffersen estimates nearly 180,000 dead or wounded in the Russian army and “probably beyond the 100,000 dead and wounded” among the Ukrainian soldiers. As for the civilians, they would be 30,000 to have been killed.
- Three Ukrainian soldiers have been convicted by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine for committing “violence against civilians”, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
Mobilization of 300,000 reservists
“In 42 cities of the Russian Federation, recruiting centers on behalf of Wagner have opened. New fighters are coming there, (they) will accompany us to defend their country and their families,” Prigozhin said on Friday. in a press release published by its press service.
His message was accompanied by a list of these recruitment centers, the majority of which appear to have opened in gyms and martial arts clubs. Mr. Prigojine, however, did not specify how many contract fighters he intended to recruit through these centers and in how long.
This announcement comes as Wagner suffered very heavy losses in the fighting that has lasted for several months around Bakhmout, a city in the Ukrainian Donbass which has become the epicenter of hostilities with the Kiev army. To stem a series of humiliating setbacks on the battlefield last summer, Russia announced in September the mobilization of 300,000 reservists. At the same time, the Wagner group had been authorized to recruit several thousand combatants from Russian prisons, in exchange for an amnesty after six months spent on the front lines.
Tribute to a father and his son killed near Bakhmout
About 100 Ukrainians gathered in Kiev’s central square on Friday to pay their last respects to a father and son killed in the battle for Bakhmout, the hottest spot on Ukraine’s eastern front. Originally from Kiev, Oleg Khomiouk, 52, and his eldest son Mykyta, 25, left to fight as volunteers at the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Both died on March 2 in the same trench, according to their family. .
During a bombardment, the father wanted to cover his son with his body, but a shell exploded near their heads, killing the two men, said during the ceremony a member of their family, Yuri Samson, in uniform. camouflage, wiping his eyes during his speech. The coffins were exposed in the morning on the iconic Maidan Square in kyiv.
More than 130,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians killed
Next to it, baskets of roses and carnations were placed, adorned with ribbons reading “to a dear grandson” and “to my dear son Oleg from mom.” Wreaths of flowers, notably crossed out with the inscription “Heroes do not die”, were also placed nearby. One soldier played a low tune from his trumpet, while another beat a drum as the coffins were slowly carried by servicemen. The Khomyuks joined the territorial defense to defend kyiv, then fought in the regions of Kherson (south) and Kharkiv (east) before ending up in Donbass (east).
“Glory and eternal memory to the Ukrainian defenders who gave their lives for the liberation of their land,” the 241 Battalion in which they served posted on Facebook. “We are going to take revenge!”. Ukraine has not revealed its human losses since the start of the Russian invasion. The latest Western estimate, Norwegian Chief of Staff Eirik Kristoffersen said in January that the war in Ukraine has left nearly 180,000 dead or injured in the ranks of the Russian army and “probably more than 100,000 dead and wounded” among the Ukrainian military, a toll to which he added 30,000 civilians killed.
Ukrainian soldiers sentenced by pro-Russian separatists
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have sentenced three Ukrainian soldiers to heavy prison terms, accusing them of committing “violence against civilians”, the Russian Investigative Committee announced on Friday. Captured during the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Viktor Pokhozei, Maxim Boutkevitch and Vladislav Chel were found guilty of “violence against the civilian population” and “use of prohibited methods during an armed conflict”, indicated in a press release this body responsible for the main investigations in Russia.
Mr. Boutkevitch and Mr. Chel, also convicted of attempted murder on several people, were sentenced to 13 and 18 and a half years respectively. Mr. Pokhozei was sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison. These sentences were handed down by the “supreme courts” of the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk, controlled by Moscow, which last year demanded annexation, not recognized by the international community. Ukrainian human rights activist and founder of the independent radio station Hromadske Radio, Maxime Boutkevitch joined the Ukrainian army in March 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“The objective of intimidating civilians”
Russian investigators accused him of injuring two civilians after firing an anti-tank grenade launcher at a residential building in Severodonetsk, a city captured by the Russian army last June in the Lugansk region. For his part, Mr Pokhozei, one of the commanders of the Azov regiment, notably made up of Ukrainian nationalists and who distinguished himself in the defense of the city of Mariupol, conquered by the Russians after a devastating siege lasting several months, was accused of hitting a civilian with his gun.
Also a fighter from the Azov regiment, Vladislav Chel was accused of having opened fire on a civilian “with the aim of intimidating civilians” in a residential building in Mariupol. Reacting to these convictions, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced “a bogus trial” which “aimed to legalize a new political massacre of Ukrainian citizens”. “The sentences imposed are illegal, and null and void,” he added in a statement, calling on the international community to “condemn” the trial and “demand” from Moscow the release of the three convicted Ukrainian soldiers.
Russian fencers rehabilitated by the International Federation
The International Fencing Federation spoke out on Friday in favor of a return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition, AFP learned from a national federation that participated in the extraordinary congress of the FIE. The FIE’s decision concerns individual and team events, but will be effective from April 2023 “subject to possible future IOC recommendations/decisions”.
The Ukrainian Fencing Federation said on Friday it was “deeply shocked” and “outraged” by the future reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competition from next April, after a decision to this effect taken by the International Federation (FIE ). “We are deeply shocked and outraged by this decision and we immediately convene a meeting of the Presidium to decide on our response to the decision of the FIE and its possible appeal,” the Ukrainian Federation said in a statement.