An intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his wife has shed some light on the huge losses suffered by the Wagner mercenary group during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In the call, published on Sunday by Ukrainian military intelligence, the unidentified couple discusses a recruitment leaflet she received in the post that had been distributed “in every mailbox” where she lives.
“And what are they promising?” the husband asks.
The wife replies: “The best training with qualified instructors, health and life insurance, and a guarantee of all payments.
“We have modern special clothing, the best equipment, and weapons.”
The husband then says he is “a bit freaked out” to know the leaflets are being distributed and claims Wagner is having to widen its search for new recruits as there aren’t enough suitable recruits left in Russia’s prisons and penal colonies.
He then adds: “My acquaintance, who is now at Wagner, he’s a driver, and he makes more than 15 trips a day – KAMAZ truck is completely filled with corpses.”
A KAMAZ truck is a large, four-, sometimes six-wheeled Russian military truck.
It’s not known when the call was recorded, but Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has said that his group lost 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.
In its daily assessment on Monday, the British Ministry of Defense said the number of troops killed on both sides had surged since Ukraine launched summer offensive operations this month.
Stoltenberg: NATO Has No Plans to Deploy Troops to Ukraine
"Both sides are suffering heavy losses, with Russian casualties probably the highest since the peak of the Battle of Bakhmut in March," the intelligence concluded.
The Ukrainian Defense Forces claim that 220,450 Russian troops have been killed since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
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Comments (37)
Russian civil war sounds like a good excuse for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. And shut the door on your way out of Crimea Ruski.
A civil war where both sides say they are supporting President-for-Life Putin.
@Lucille Gaither No, that's the kind of garbage that leads to the nationalistic religious nut-jobbery that Russia is all about to commit its atrocities. Same with Germany. Same with Drumpf America.
Pay attention to Matthew chapter 24 and do what Jesus says. He is your hope.
Another load of Russian fertilizer
Jesus Christ putin will fight to every last Russian. Is dead and than drop a full scale nuclear shower and America and powers that be will fight to the very last Ukraine nazi get Biden and Harris out and let trump go over a make a deal it’s what the guy does this has to end
Sadly the biggest loses are the truth and civilians. Those who start the wars should be on the front leading their country. Will never happen because they're all cowards.
Nobodies winning it's 2 corrupt country's doing what they do people be damned and I'm not here saying the USA is any better we need to get rid of these power hungry war lovers and maybe take care of the people for a change I don't care about any of the government but the people caught in this area really what should matter
Putin's purge continues
Rich heard the call it fact , there ya have it Ukraine is winning again 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It is fact. I heard the call on line. Not B.S
In the US our inner cities are filled with soldier material, won't be any better than the Wagner forces, of rapists and murderers, but so it's what they already do
If it was a phone call between two people, it has to be true.
When Russia, along with the entire post-USSR, was in a particularly deplorable state of decline in the 90s and early 00s, many teenagers were joining gopnik gangs comprised of youth.
The gopniks' main source of income was petty robbery. They would send their youngest member to approach the future victim and ask him for a cigarette. A man would naturally refuse. The little gopnik would then escalate the situation by shouting profanities.
This man would most likely push him away. That's when the pack of older gopniks would reveal themselves. "Hey, you! Why are you picking on a little kid?" And then they would beat a man up and rob him of his possessions.
What did a little hoodlum get for playing his risky role? Promises!
Collective West is a well-established gang of gopniks. They've been eyeing their neighbor to the East - a former alcoholic who straightened out and became an oil rig worker.
Yet they lacked an excuse to mug him. They sorely needed some little hooligan to set the stage. After a failed endeavor in 2008 in Georgia, they've reworked their strategy and by 2014 they picked a new, tougher little shit.
The incentive remains the same:
harass your older neighbor, and one day you will join the North Atlantic gopnik syndicate, boy.
Hopefully they'll get rid of all troops inside Ukraine that are not Ukrainian or with the Ukrainians. I have seen proof of their war crimes and they should all be put to an end. (By death or prison) Ukraine needs to make the Russian citizen suffer. So they'll put an end to this nonsense. It is clear to the entire world that Russia is just trying to steal more land. I hope all Wagner troops die. They're awful.
Don't be misled by the political comments by Russian propagandists pretending to be Americans. They are attempting to keep the focus off their Russia's barbaric attacks on women and children.
As long as the fighting occurs inside Ukraine, the Ukrainian people will suffer. Military bases, infrastructure and industrial sites across Russia must be targeted daily Only when the destruction is close to home will the Russian people rise up and remove Putin.
American's literally can't convene anywhere on the internet without them hijacking the conversation with their ridiculous political whining. Jesus Christ just shut up already, the world is sick of hearing you whine and complain at each other all day every day. It's pathetic
I’m impressed at the attempts of all the Ukrainian speakers below to attempt to discuss the American political climate in English
I'm baffled, why are we arguing over American politics on a Ukrainian news site reporting unimaginable suffering and destruction? We have no idea how good we have it. Yet we make each other our enemy. We are not that different, our enemy is not "republicans," not "democrats."
Show no mercy so that ruskies will be scared
Trump loves pornstars ...why do you think he's facing so much charges why would a great so called man love pornstars ..tell the whole family about it jut don't sugar coat things..
@Daniel,
@Daniel,
@Daniel, Anyone who still has Trump Derangement Syndrome at this point should be declared legally insane.
@David, T-rump will be needing volunteers in prison to feed, bathe, dress, flense him. I doubt all that is in the secret service's purview. Maybe you could join him, you could possibly wipe his chin after he eats his pablum or help change his soiled diddums