Russian Mercenary Mass Grave Site Expands Sevenfold in an Instant

Private Mercenary Company Wagner Group Territory

Casualties among Russian private mercenaries deployed on the Ukrainian front appear to be severe. The area of cemeteries where the fallen soldiers are buried has increased more than fivefold.

On the 25th (local time), US NBC released photos of a mass burial site taken by the US commercial satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies. This burial site is owned by the Russian private military company (PMC) 'Wagner Group'.

When Maxar photographed the same burial site on November 24 last year, there were only 17 graves. However, in about two months, that number surged to 121. This means the number of buried personnel has increased at least sevenfold.

Wagner Group, a Russian private military company logo / Photo by Yonhap News

The Wagner Group is currently deployed on the Ukrainian front and is presumed to have suffered heavy casualties in recent battles with the Ukrainian military.

John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator for the US White House National Security Council (NSC), said in a briefing on the 20th, "More than 90% of the casualties in the Battle of Bakhmut were Wagner Group fighters," criticizing, "They literally threw people into a grinder."

The Wagner Group, designated by the US government as a 'transnational criminal organization,' is deeply involved in this war and also interferes with Russia's military policies.

The Wagner Group is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is also identified as the main perpetrator of the so-called 'Bucha massacre,' where civilians were slaughtered in the Bucha region of Ukraine last year.

However, there are claims that the Wagner Group's losses are accumulating due to the ongoing battles. On the 24th, the US media outlet The New York Times (NYT) cited the announcement of the Russian prisoner rights group 'Russia Behind Bars,' reporting that out of the 50,000 mercenaries the Wagner Group deployed to the Ukrainian front, only about 10,000 remain.

The remaining 40,000 are either killed or wounded and unable to operate, and a significant number are reported to have deserted or surrendered to the Ukrainian forces.