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The battle of Bakhmoutin eastern Ukraine is one of the bloodiest since the start of the war. Faced with Ukrainian soldiers, the Wagner commando recruited hundreds of men from Russian prisons, and sacrificed them by sending them to enemy positions.
To Bakhmout (Ukraine)the hammering of the cannons is incessant. Facing the Ukrainian forces are Wagner’s mercenaries, a Russian militia that uses prisoners to fight. The paramilitaries constantly attack. The man leading the offensive from the Russian side, militia boss Wagner, is Yevgeny Prigozhin. He recruits prisoners, paid to go and fight at Bakhmout. “They use them like cannon fodder. They don’t stay alive long, not more than two months.”confirms a Ukrainian soldier.
Another Ukrainian soldier recounts that he sees Wagner’s ex-prisoners advancing on the front line. “They have the order to advance. And if they don’t, they are executed”he said. Most civilians ignore that the Wagner militia is responsible for their hell. 17,000 people are sheltered in the basements. “We don’t know anything. We don’t have internet, we always stay here”says a woman. The city of Bakhmout has lost all strategic interest in Moscow. “Yet Wagner’s mercenaries are relentless, pushed by their leader in search of notoriety, and of course as always, the civilians are in the middle of these fights”concludes Maryse Burgotspecial correspondent in Ukraine.