News reports indicate that some 2,000-4,000 Wagner mercenaries arrived in Ukraine in January, weeks before the launch of Moscow’s February 24 invasion. Some Ukrainian experts have claimed that Wagner Group members are already active in military operations aimed at seizing the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
The Times of London reported that when Ukrainian intelligence learned of the presence of the guns-for-hire in the capital, a curfew was imposed on Kiev soon after the invasion so that security forces could hunt down what they referred to as “saboteurs.”
Military strategists say the Kremlin would need to deploy much more than 4,000 mercenaries, even as advance scouts, to achieve its military objectives even just for Kiev. Those larger mercenary numbers could be forthcoming, however: Ukrainian sources claim that the Wagner Group has already started recruiting mercenaries in Russia.
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