The pro-Russia mercenary Wagner Group, which has sustained almost 3,000 casualties during the last week in its battle to take the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is now trying to recruit soldiers from Russian High Schools, the United Kingdom's Defense intelligence Ministry said on its Twitter page Monday.
"In recent weeks, Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin has likely lost access to recruiting in Russian prisons due to his ongoing disputes with the Russian [Ministry of Defense] leadership," the agency's tweet said. "In recent days, masked Wagner recruiters also gave career talks in Moscow high schools, distributing questionnaires entitled 'application of a young warrior' to collect the contact details of interested pupils."
The BBC reported in January that the private mercenary outfit is used by Russia in many countries for military operations and is currently the main force trying to take the city of Bakhmut in fierce fighting.
"Wagner almost certainly now commands 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the Ukraine campaign," the U.K. M.O.D. said in the report.
The report said that soldiers from the group have, up until now, constituted mainly of 80% prisoners, is now opening up its recruiting efforts as the Bakhmut losses mount.
"It is openly recruiting in Russian cities, on billboards, and is being named in Russian media as a patriotic organization," Dr. Samuel Ramani, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank told the BBC.
BBC also reported Monday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the group, along with regular Russian forces, lost 1,100 soldiers in the "past few days" alone, and many more that were injured and removed from the Bakhmut combat zone.
"In less than a week, starting from March 6, we managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone," Zelenskyy said to his nation via television Monday. "Russia's irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut."
According to that report, Prigozhin is betting his reputation on capturing the city, but admitted Sunday that the going was rough.
"[It is] difficult, very difficult, the enemy is fighting for every meter," he said in a voice recording Sunday. "And the closer to the city center, the fiercer the fighting,"
Euronews, however, reported Monday that the Kremlin's M.O.D. has likely taken over the Bakhmut offensive because Wagner forces have not been able to deliver the city.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin had ultimately allowed the Russian M.O.D. to retake control of the Bakhmut direction from Prigozhin in January, as Wagner forces failed to deliver the promised victory over Bakhmut by the end of 2022," the Institute for the Study of War told the news outlet.