According to the US government, North Korea has supplied weapons to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. The delivery included grenades and rockets and the mercenary group paid for them, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists on Thursday (local time). This is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
American ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the regime of head of state Kim Jong Un sent the weapons last month. “It is despicable that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council – in violation of UN Security Council resolutions – is now using weapons from North Korea and Iran to conduct its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
According to Kirby, Washington expects North Korea to send more weapons: “We assume that the amount of material that has been delivered to Wagner will not change the dynamics on the battlefield and in Ukraine, but we are up definitely concerned that North Korea is planning to supply more military equipment.”
The Wagner mercenary group is active in several theaters of war around the world and also fights alongside Russia in Ukraine. Kirby estimates that the group currently has around 50,000 people stationed in Ukraine. Of these, 10,000 are mercenaries and 40,000 are recruits from Russian prisons.
According to Kirby, the United States assumes that the mercenary group will increasingly compete with the Russian army and various ministries in the future. For months, the Russian army has relied on the Wagner group to fight in certain areas of Donbass in eastern Ukraine. “In some cases, Russian officers are actually subject to Wagner’s orders.”
The mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin spends more than 100 million US dollars (more than 94 million euros) every month on their operations in Ukraine, Kirby explained. However, the troops are “poorly equipped and badly trained”. They also suffered heavy casualties on the battlefield. Prigozhin “literally puts people through a meat grinder” in Ukraine, Kirby said. He has no regard for human life, especially Ukrainian ones. “But I would go so far as to say not in Russian either.”
Kirby announced that the US government would take further action against the group “in the coming weeks”. Washington has already imposed sanctions on the organization.
The Wagner mercenary group is considered Russia’s shadow army. In addition to Ukraine, their fighters are also deployed in the Central African Republic. The mercenaries are accused of serious human rights abuses, including torture and targeted killings.
