Russia's Wagner Group has suffered over 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, US says

Russia's mercenary company Wagner Group has suffered major losses since President Vladimir Putin launched the so-called special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, including more than 30,000 casualties and about 9,000 of those fighters killed in action, US officials said on Friday.

The US estimates 90% of the private army's soldiers killed in Ukraine since December were poorly-trained convicts, White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday at a regular briefing.

Wagner is widely recognised as a proxy for the Russian military and is possibly financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group's founder and a friend of Putin.

The group used to be much smaller before the invasion, with just 5,000 fighters, most of whom were former soldiers with plenty of experience. However, since February 24, it has recruited scores of fighters as Russia had trouble finding troops for the war. Most of the newly recruited fighters were largely from prisons, according to the US.

Kirby underscored that Wagner continues to depend heavily on convicts, who were sent to fight in Ukraine with no training or equipment, despite last week's announcement from the group's founder that it would stop recruiting prisoners.

Half of the overall fatalities occurred since mid-December, as fighting in Bakhmut intensified, an NSC spokesperson mentioned. Nevertheless, despite the casualties, the group has made significant gains over the last few days around the eastern Ukrainian city, Kirby said.

But those incremental gains had taken many months to achieve and came at a "devastating cost that is not sustainable," he further mentioned.

Kirby even questioned the military significance of the city.

Elsewhere, the British Defence Ministry in its latest intelligence update estimated that "Russian Ministry of Defence and private military contractor (PMC) forces" have possibly suffered 175,000 - 200,000 casualties during its all-out war in Ukraine, including 40,000 - 60,000 deaths.