CENTRE FOR EASTERN STUDIES
www.osw.waw.pl
OSW Commentary
The views expressed by the authors of the papers
Tomasz Strzelczyk, Katarzyna Kazimierska
TRANSLATION: Ilona Duchnowicz
Jim Todd
Centre for Eastern Studies
www.osw.waw.pl
From Popasna to Bakhmut. The Wagner Group
in the Russia-Ukraine War
Jakub Ber
The Russian mercenary organisation known as the Wagner Group was not engaged in the ght-
ing in Ukraine until April 2022, when it turned out that the regular army was unable to break
through their opponents’ defences in the Donbas. In May and June, the mercenaries became
the ‘assault engine’ of the offensive: they played akey role in capturing Popasna and entering
the outskirts of Bakhmut. In the summer, Vladimir Putin decided to turn the Wagner Group
into aseparate unit operating as part of the Russian troops in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin,
abusinessman and criminal who manages this structure on behalf of the Kremlin, was given
alarge dose of independence and permission to recruit prisoners en masse. Despite recruit-
ing tens of thousands of criminals into the ranks and receiving comprehensive logistical and
material support from the resources of the regular army, the Wagner Group has still failed to
capture Bakhmut. However, they have managed to tie down signicant enemy forces in this
part of the Donbas, and thus prevented their engagement in the offensives near Kherson and
in Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts. The Wagner Group’s autumn offensives largely contributed
to stabilising the front in what was acritical period for the invaders. It seems that this forma-
tion’s combat value and importance as part of the troops engaged in Ukraine will gradually
decrease, due to the huge losses suffered by Prigozhin’s mercenaries in the battles of Bakhmut
and theexhaustion of the current recruitment model.
1
From its creation to its engagement in the war in Ukraine, the Wagner Group has been closely linked
to the Russian Armed Forces’ foreign operations. The organisation was established to support regular
Russian troops in Syria. However, the precise relationship between it and the Ministry of Defence
of the Russian Federation is difcult to dene, characterised as it is by aconstant intertwining of
coordinated moves and amulti-level cooperation beset by tension and open conicts. On the one
hand, the army has provided the Wagner Group with equipment and supplies, while at the same
time attempting to exploit this material dependency to maintain maximum control over the group.
1
This commentary focuses on discussing the military aspects of the Wagner Group’s participation in the Russia-Ukraine
war; rst of all, the organisational changes in this structure, its military activity and its place within the Russian troops
in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin’s political activity, his connections with the Kremlin and the mercenaries’ activity in Africa
during the Ukraine war are not discussed in this text.
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