Ukrainian troops have killed some 21,000 Wagner Group mercenaries and wounded another 80,000 along the eastern front of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed in an interview with a Spanish news outlet on Sunday.
"Only in the east of Ukraine, our troops eliminated 21,000 [Russian mercenaries] and wounded 80,000 more,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, according to a translated transcript of the interview published by Ukrinform, or The National News Agency of Ukraine.
“That is, about 100,000 Wagner fighters were killed or wounded by our troops in the east. These were colossal losses for the Wagner,” the Ukrainian head of state continued. “Now everyone can see: we destroyed the real fist of the Wagner fighters in the east of Ukraine.”
He continued, adding that Wagner fighters, who have been involved in some of the bloodiest battles in Ukraine, are pressing on towards the front line, even as Ukrainian fire cut most of them down.
Pressing forward despite the odds
According to Zelensky, the reason why the mercenaries are continuing to press forward despite the constant fire from Ukrainian troops is because they know that it's their best chance of survival.
"If they [move] forward, towards us, they knew they might get captured, they might be wounded,” Ukrinform quotes Zelensky as explaining. “But if they are captured, they have a chance to survive.
"They have no chance if they retreat, having not completed the task. When returning back to their forces, the Wagner fighters are killed by the military.”
According to the Ukrainian President, the situation faced by Wagner mercenaries has been so dire in some circumstances that facing overwhelming odds of death at the hands of the Ukrainian defenders was a better prospect than returning to their own people, unsuccessful in their mission.
These Wagner fighters had no chance from the beginning, Zelensky said, adding that many Wagner fighters were forced from jail cells into combat roles and had no say in the matter.