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Grave of a Wagner soldier in St. Petersburg
Photo: Igor Russak / REUTERS
According to the US government, the Wagner mercenary group has suffered heavy losses in Ukraine.
According to the Presidential Office in Washington, around 9,000 men were killed.
Together with casualties, Wagner's losses amounted to more than 30,000 mercenaries.
It is estimated that 90 percent of the Wagner members killed since December were convicted criminals, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing to reporters.
Half of all deaths have occurred since mid-December, when fighting intensified in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Kirby said, citing new findings.
The spokesman for the Security Council said that the mercenary group had gradually made gains in and around Bakhmut in the past few days.
But it took many months to achieve these and they come at a "devastating price that is unsustainable."
A success of the offensive in Bachmut is possible.
But it won't really prove valuable because the city "has no real strategic value," Kirby said.
The Ukrainian armed forces would maintain strong defense lines throughout the Donbass region.
Kirby told reporters that Wagner continues to make heavy use of convicts sent to war without training or equipment, although Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin recently said he would no longer recruit prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
mic/Reuters