Support our war crimes investigations unit Support
Skip to content

News Feed

Want to partner with the Kyiv Independent?
Contact the Tellers Agency to connect your brand with independent media.
Contact
12:11 PM
Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk went to Turkey and met with Azovstal defenders who have been freed from Russian capture and are now under the protection of the Turkish government, the press service of Verkhovna Rada reported on June 4.
Ukraine Daily
News from
Ukraine in your
inbox
9:51 AM
According to the report, Russia has also lost 3,837 tanks, 7,512 armored fighting vehicles, 6,305 vehicles and fuel tanks, 3,555 artillery systems, 1,132 cruise missiles, 583 multiple launch rocket systems, 344 air defense systems, 313 airplanes, 298 helicopters, 3,175 drones, and 18 boats.
8:52 PM
A least six explosions were heard near Russian-occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ivan Fedorov, the city's exiled mayor, reported on June 3. One of the explosions was reported at a railway near Melitopol, which Russian forces had reportedly been using to transport military equipment and personnel. Fedorov did not provide further details.
MORE NEWS

watch us on facebook

Edit post

Military: Wagner Group comparable to armies of Hungary, Slovakia in size

by The Kyiv Independent news desk April 2, 2023 2:34 PM 1 min read
This audio is created with AI assistance

The Wagner Group, Russia’s most high-profile mercenary outfit, is now a fully-fledged army equal in size to Hungary or Slovakia's military personnel, Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command, told the Ukrainian Channel 24.

He hasn’t specified the number of the Wagner Group troops, but Slovakia’s Armed Forces number 19,000 active personnel while Hungary’s Armed Forces have 40,000 troops, according to the World Bank 2019 data.

In the past months, the Kremlin-controlled mercenary company Wagner Group has been trying to seize the city of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast, with the support of the Russian regular army.

Cherevatyi said that Ukraine’s forces killed 121 and injured 139 Russian troops in Bakhmut over April 1, while Russian forces shelled the embattled town 232 times.

Since the Wagner Group stopped recruiting prisoners in Russia at the beginning of February, regular Russian airborne troops and mechanized infantry have been deployed to the Bakhmut sector, the military said.

In late January, Olga Romanova, head of Russia Behind Bars, a nonprofit that defends Russian convicts, said that only 10,000 of the nearly 50,000 mercenaries recruited into Wagner had remained in service – suggesting that the rest had deserted or had been killed or wounded.

The U.S. has designated Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and imposed sanctions on its support network worldwide.

Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.
Freedom can be costly. Both Ukraine and its journalists are paying a high price for their independence. Support independent journalism in its darkest hour. Support from as little as $1, and it only takes a minute.
visa masterCard americanExpress

Editors' Picks

Support us

Enter your email to subscribe

Please, enter correct email address

Subscribe

* indicates required
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.