- Mercenary fighters in Ukraine has grown from 1,000 to almost 20,000.
- Germany is looking for arms suppliers all over the world.
- Wagner’s power and presence have grown a lot.
The US says that North Korea gave battlefield missiles and rockets to the Russian mercenary group Wagner so that they could use them in Ukraine.
The White House said that the shipment went against UN Security Council rules and that Wagner would face more punishments.
The reports have been denied by both North Korea and Wagner.
The UK government says that the number of mercenary fighters in Ukraine has grown from 1,000 to almost 20,000.
Recently, the group has also been active in Syria and some African countries. It has been accused many times of committing war crimes and abusing human rights.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s national security team, told reporters that Germany is looking for arms suppliers all over the world to help with its military operations in Ukraine.
“We can confirm that North Korea has finished delivering the first set of weapons to Wagner, which paid for them,” he said.
The White House says that North Korea sent rockets and missiles for infantry to the group of mercenaries.
Mr. Kirby said that each month, Wagner spends more than $100 million (£82 million) in Ukraine.
He also said that the group was now as strong as the Russian army.
The Foreign Secretary of the UK, James Cleverly, said that the UK agreed with what Washington said.
In a statement, Mr. Cleverly said, “The fact that President Vladimir Putin is asking for help from North Korea shows how desperate and alone Russia is.”
But Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the claim was “rumours and speculation,” and North Korea’s foreign ministry said that the reports were “untrue.”
A North Korean spokesperson said that the country’s position hasn’t changed and that arms have never been traded between North Korea and Russia.
The first time the Wagner group is thought to have done something was in 2014, when Russia took over Crimea.
Its owner, Mr. Prigozhin, is an oligarch who is known as “Putin’s chef” because he used to run restaurants and cook for the Kremlin before getting rich.
Wagner’s power and presence have grown a lot as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been stopped over and over again.
People thought that Wagner sent an initial force of just over 1,000 people in March 2022. But UK officials say that number is now over 20,000, which is about 10% of all the Russian troops on the ground.
Wagner’s ranks are higher than they should be because it recruits prisoners from Russian jails. Officials from the UK say that estimates from public sources show that the number of people in Russian prisons dropped by more than 23,000 in the two months before November 2022, when Russia was hiring.
There are no exact numbers, but it is thought that a lot of prisoners joined Wagner. In exchange, they will get paid and have their sentences cut short after six months on the front lines.
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