Putin sends supplies: Wagner units spotted on the Crimean Peninsula. Wagner mercenary force is a private army that fought alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine for a long time.
The Wagner Group has been sanctioned by several Western governments for its involvement in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In January 2023, the United States designated Wagner as a “significant transnational criminal organization.” Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a short-lived uprising against Russia's leadership in June 2023 and died in a plane crash.