Vladimir Putin’s “private army” of more than 1,000 mercenaries is being deployed in eastern Ukraine as it tries to refocus its deadlock on that part of the country, British defense chiefs say. The Wagner group is believed to be in use after Russian forces suffered heavy casualties, with more than 10,000 soldiers believed to have been killed. In its latest briefing on Monday night, the Ministry of Defense said: “The Russian Private Military Company Wagner Group has been deployed in eastern Ukraine. “More than 1,000 mercenaries are expected to be deployed, including the organization’s top leaders, to take on combat operations.” “Due to heavy losses and a largely halted invasion, Russia is likely to have to re-prioritize Wagner’s personnel for Ukraine over operations in Africa and Syria,” the defense chief said.
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It comes after the United Kingdom’s defense chiefs said Mr Putin’s troops had achieved “no significant change” in the past 24 hours in occupying territory in Ukraine. In the fifth week of the conflict, they stressed that Russian progress was being hampered by “aggressive” Ukrainian resistance, a lack of momentum, poor morale among the military and ongoing logistical problems. However, Russian troops have occupied some territory in the Mariupol region of southern Ukraine, where they have been besieging the city for weeks, with reports that this is leaving some civilians starving to death. “In the last 24 hours, there has been no significant change in the mood of Russian forces in occupied Ukraine,” the Defense Ministry said Monday morning. He added: “The continuing lack of logistics has been exacerbated by the continuing lack of momentum and morale between the Russian army and aggressive fighting by the Ukrainians.” However, he also stressed: “Russia has gained more ground in the south in the Mariupol area, where fierce fighting continues as Russia tries to occupy the port.” With his original invasion plan failing, Putin now appears to be seeking control of the breakaway Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, two Moscow-backed separatist areas. However, his forces are believed to have already suffered at least 10,000 deaths and there is growing public concern in Russia over the invasion. Even if it can occupy eastern Ukraine, its army is in danger of being plunged into a guerrilla war for many years, as was the case in Afghanistan for Soviet troops and later for US-led forces. Speaking to The Economist, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “just a matter of time” for his country to emerge victorious, echoing the Taliban saying to US forces: “You have the clocks. We have time.” Donate here: Please donate as much as you can to the Evening Standard Ukraine appeal / IS He also noted his willingness to discuss a neutral status for Ukraine as part of peace talks aimed at ending the conflict, but stressed that Russia needed to withdraw its troops. Despite Putin’s horror in Ukrainian cities and towns, with tens of thousands of civilians being killed, Zelensky stressed that his country still believes in victory. “It is impossible to believe in anything else. We will definitely win because this is our home, our land, our independence. “It’s just a matter of time,” he said. Zelensky also praised Boris Johnson for his leadership role against the Russian invasion, arguing that Germany was “wrong” as it tried to take a more balanced approach due to its deeper economic ties with Moscow. His comments followed a midnight television interview Sunday with independent Russian journalists, in which he reiterated previous statements that showed he was willing to discuss neutrality with Russia. The president added that Ukraine could consider offering security guarantees to the Kremlin with the participation of his government agreeing to stay out of NATO. Ukraine will also be left without nuclear weapons, he said. He said the issue of neutrality should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after the withdrawal of Russian troops. He said a vote could be held within months of the troops’ withdrawal. In an interview with The Economist, the president said “Britain is definitely on our side” and “not carrying out a balancing act”, but declined to say whether the UK wanted to end the war quickly at any cost. When asked if the Prime Minister was more willing than the President of France Emanuel Macron to send weapons, Mr. Zelensky replied: “Yes. To be honest, Johnson is a leader who helps more. “The leaders of the countries react according to how their voters act. In that case, Johnson is an example. “ Johnson has forged a close relationship with the Ukrainian leader, speaking to him regularly on the phone. The prime minister said that the deployment of tanks and fighter jets requested by Zelensky as he addressed a summit of NATO leaders last week would be a difficult “logistical” one, but did not rule it out. However, Mr Macron warned that the supply of armored vehicles and fighter jets could lead NATO into a direct confrontation with Russia by crossing a “red line”. Zelensky categorized foreign nations as those who want the conflict to end quickly by all means so that they can maintain access to Russian markets to those who support the Ukrainian people who “want the war to end quickly. any cost “. “Britain is definitely on our side. It does not perform a balancing act. “Britain does not see an alternative to getting out of the situation,” he said. “Britain wants Ukraine to win and Russia to lose, but I’m not ready to say whether Britain wants the war to last or not.” The government, meanwhile, has distanced itself from the United Kingdom over Joe Biden’s apparent call for regime change in Moscow when he said in a passionate speech that Mr Putin “could not stay in power”. Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi said whether he would overthrow Putin over his invasion of Ukraine “is up to the Russian people” after the apparently undocumented summons by the US president provoked the White House to reject the remark. In a very busy speech in Warsaw, Mr. Biden appealed directly to the Russian people, comparing the invasion of Ukraine with the horrors of World War II. “In the name of God, this man can not stay in power,” he said at the end of his speech about the Russian president, whom he had previously described as a “butcher.” However, a White House official was quick to clarify, arguing that the Russian president’s view was that the Russian leader “is not allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has insisted that “we do not have a strategy for regime change”, as the Kremlin said “it is not up to the Americans to decide who will stay in power in Russia”. French President Emmanuel Macron said he “would not use these terms” expressed by Biden and suggested that they could make resolving the conflict more difficult, adding: “We want to end the war that Russia has started in Ukraine. without waging war and without escalation. “ In an interview on Sunday, Zahaoui said it was “up to the Russian people to decide how to govern”, but suggested that “they would definitely do well” to have someone who is “democratic and understands his wishes”. “It’s up to the Russian people and only the Russian people can make that decision, I suspect most of them are very tired of Putin and his friends and the illegal war,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show. However, he refused to criticize Biden, unlike Tobias Elwood, a Conservative lawmaker who chairs the Communities Defense Committee, who said Putin would now “do it, dig and fight harder.” Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov has warned that the Russian president wants to divide the country into two “Korean scenarios”, citing divisions between North and South Korea. His comments came after Moscow indicated it could limit its attack to focus on what it claimed was the “main goal, the liberation of Donbass”, the region bordering Russia in eastern Ukraine. Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are expected to begin in Turkey in the coming days. Zelensky has previously warned that he would not give way to peace talks, noting that his troops had dealt “severe blows” to the invading forces.
