Disguising yourself in Ukrainian uniforms and shooting treacherously, the strategy of the Wagner Group in Soledar

The last sample of brutality with which these militiamen operate, who respond to the orders of the businessman Eugeni Prigozhin, is collected in a video broadcast by the organization itself on its Telegram channel. It features Russian fighters who they ambush three soldiers Ukrainians waiting in a trench in the middle of a forest.

They approach from behind and tell them to surrender, but the Ukrainians seem not only surprised, but also bewildered. “We are one of yours”, they say, while they refuse to drop their weapons but without trying to defend themselves. One of the enemy soldiers tries to take the rifle from them, without success, and that is when execute them in cold blood.

[El Grupo Wagner, los Sicarios de Putin con Licencia Mundial para Matar y que Paga un Cocinero]

“Out of fear or from the impact of the projectiles They didn’t understand who was in front,” says the Wagner Group on its channel, where they have published the images that were apparently recorded in the town of Soledar, just over 10 kilometers from Bakhmutwhere fighting has intensified in recent days.

However, it may be that behind the bewilderment of these soldiers there is a rational explanation: that the russians were dressed in the Ukrainian uniform. This same Wednesday, the paramilitary group, which for months has been in charge of Russian operations in the east of the country and has carried out an active campaign on social networks to demonstrate its effectiveness as a combat force opposed to the Armed Forces, published another recording.

In it, two members of the assault units of the Wagner Group appear in front of an “administrative building” of what, according to shared coordinates, is Soledar. In this way, they confirm that they have seized “the entire territory”including the tunnels of the salt and gypsum mines, as Prigozhin himself assured on Tuesday.

One of those soldiers, the one on the right, is dressed (helmet, balaclava and jacket) con the unique digital camouflage tactical uniform of the Ukrainian army. However, he is not wearing any armband identifying the kyiv troops.

It is not the first time that the Kremlin forces have used this strategy to confuse the enemy or to flee without being stopped during withdrawals. On this occasion, however, everything indicates that it is the star tactic that Prigozhin’s men are using to take Soledar, a city practically reduced to ruins after months of bombing where the Wagner Group seems to have business interests.

uncertainty ahead

Despite the fact that the mercenary organization does not cease in its attempts to demonstrate that Soledar is under your controlthe Kremlin has clarified this Wednesday that several hundred Ukrainian soldiers still resist in the center of the town.

“Units of the airborne forces have blocked Soledar from the north and south. The air forces attack enemy fortificationss and assault units are fighting in the city,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov told a press briefing.

[¿Almacén militar o mina de oro? El Grupo Wagner, ansioso por tomar los 200 km de túneles en Soledar]

Military expert and adviser to the leadership of the Russian-annexed Donetsk People’s Republic Ian Gaguin also noted that up to 500 Ukrainian servicemen are still there. “That is, approximately, the figure that the commanders of our units mention,” he said in statements to the official Russian news agency. TASS.

For its part, kyiv’s military command has denied that the city, considered one of the strongholds of Ukrainian defensive lines in Donbas, has fallen under Russian control. “The Russians say that Soledar is under their control. This is not true. Wait for details in the General Staff report,” Serhiy Cherevatryi, a spokesman for the Armed Forces Eastern Group, told the news agency. ukrinform.