Wagner recruited Russian prisoners used as “cannon fodder” by Russia’s army in Ukraine

AFTER reportedly recruiting prisoners from Russian prisons, the Wagner Group – a network of mercenaries and a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin – have been using them as “cannon fodder” in Ukraine, as reported on Tuesday, October 18.

Following interrogation from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), a former Russian prisoner, who said he had been recruited personally by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, said all recruited prisoners were being used as “cannon fodder” to reconnoitre Ukrainian positions on the front line.

“Recruiting prisoners in Russian prisons, the head of the PMC “Wagner” promised them that they would be able to “wash away their sins” with the blood of Ukrainians and receive “clean” documents. But despite the promises, they are thrown to the front line as “cannon fodder,” the SBU said on Tuesday, October 18.

“So some “volunteers”, interrogation by the SBU, “fought” in Ukraine for two days – he arrived on September 21, and the next day he was taken, prisoner by Ukrainian forces.”

The man captured by Ukraine’s Security Service revealed that when Prigozhin recruited him and other prisoners, they were told a completely different story to what actually ended up happening in Ukraine.

The man told the SBU: “We are used as cannon fodder. Our commander sent us forward, at first we walked together, and then looked back – they were very far away. We are just cannon fodder: to know where the positions are, who is standing where… We are like cannon fodder… When we were recruited, we were told a completely different story.”

According to the man, the prisoners would fight side by side with the “experienced” military personnel who would teach them everything, and they would not be on the front line.

Earlier it was reported that the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) claimed Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner-affiliated social media outlets were “undermining the authority” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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