More than 20,000 Wagner Mercenaries Killed in Ukraine, Including Those Recruited from Prisons

In the photo, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, is seen against the backdrop of a mercenaries' cemetery.

According to a joint investigation by Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, more than 20,000 mercenaries from the private military company Wagner, primarily recruited from prisons under contract, have been killed in the ongoing battles in Ukraine. The report states that from January 2022 to August 2023, more than 20,000 mercenaries died in Ukraine.

The authors of the report assert that, based on their findings, Russian authorities have spent around 108 billion rubles just to provide compensations to the relatives of the deceased. This amount does not include the salaries of the mercenaries or any compensation for injuries sustained.

Overall, it is estimated that at least 48,000 prisoners were recruited by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his subordinates, the majority of whom were sent to Ukraine from maximum-security penal institutions, where they were incarcerated for serious crimes, including murder.

Approximately 17,000 mercenaries were killed near Bakhmut alone. In exchange for their participation in the war, the prisoners received pardons from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin himself attempted a military rebellion on June 23, 2023, but later halted it and, on August 23, 2023, he died in suspicious circumstances during a plane crash along with his comrades.