Wagner chief succeeds in currying lost favour with Putin

Moscow: Vladimir Putin appears to be again helping the Wagner Group of mercenaries, providing them arms and ammunition along with political recognition after the conventional Russian military forces failed to meet 1 April deadline to capture Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its latest assessment of the Russian-Ukraine war stated that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner Group, is “seemingly regaining some favour” with Vladimir Putin due to the Russian conventional military’s feeble winter offensive in Donbas.

The ISW further detailed that Wagner forces appear to have been receiving reinforcements, ammunition, and political recognition, “which is a stark deviation from the Kremlin’s previous efforts to expend Wagner forces and Prigozhin in Bakhmut since at least January 2023.”

ISW quoted Wagner-affiliated sources saying that the group has been training up to three motorised rifle brigades of mobilized personnel to reinforce its flanks in Bakhmut.

Wagner actively receiving artillery shells

The Wagner group head confirmed that Russian airborne forces (VDV) were operating alongside Wagner. He also indicated that Wagner is actively receiving artillery shells.

The ISW assessment further said that Prigozhin even advocated for Wagner to receive more artillery shells, which indicated that Prigozhin has re-established his supply of ammunition from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).

For long, Prigozhin had been demanding for recognition of Wagner personnel as participants of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, and the adoption of the bill would clearly show that the position of the Wagner group head in the Kremlin inner circle has improved.

Recently, the Russian MoD had replaced Russian Airborne troops (VDV) commander Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (UK MoD) on 16 April said that it was highly likely that Teplinsky had returned to a “major” but unspecified role in Ukraine.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.