The Wagner Group mercenary army is increasingly at odds with the Kremlin. For example, recruitment is no longer allowed in Russian prisons and Wagner is now looking to recruit in secondary schools as well. This was reported by the British Ministry of Defence.
But former army commander Mart de Kruif doesn’t expect them to be very successful. This has everything to do with the fact that willingness to fight in Ukraine is very low, and therefore public recruitment seems to make little sense. ‘The recruitment problem will remain for a while’, thinks De Kruif.
The news that the Wagner Group is now also touring in secondary schools worries De Kruif. If the Wagner Group actually recruits high school students, they are child soldiers. “They’re not educated, they’re not trained, but Wagner doesn’t have as much rinsing anymore,” continues De Kruif. “Most of the soldiers recruited come from rural areas behind the Urals. Many of those kids are already busy.’
Cannon fodder
And therefore it is cannon fodder, thinks De Kruif. Especially since currently recruited soldiers must first be trained for a number of months before they can be deployed. So if they are sent directly to the front, Russia is fighting with untrained soldiers. “And then also the losses are much higher than usual, and we’re seeing that happen now.”
“With untrained soldiers, casualties are ditto higher than normal”
The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeni Prigozhin, says he has been warning for months about the problem of growth, in which he would be opposed by the command of the Russian army. According to De Kruif, one can safely speak of cracks in the collaboration. “Normally Putin likes to pit people against each other and stand in the middle, but now he sees that his own army is starting to turn away from Prigozhin,” said De Kruif, who also says Putin does not want to do nothing choose between the two. “He So he is trying to slow down Prigozhin, among other things, in supplies and logistics.”
Bachmoth
Whether this also influenced the battle of Bachmoet, De Kruif dare not say. What is clear, according to him, is that if Bachmoet were to fall, there would be a so-called Pyrrhic victory – a victory that requires so much effort that it can be seen as a defeat.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
