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Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin recently spoke of “colossal resistance” by Ukrainian troops in the disputed city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Although the Russian units were able to report a success when they captured the eastern part of the village, the attackers are struggling in one of the at least symbolically important battles of the war so far.

The Russians have been trying to capture Bachmut for weeks. Ukrainian Colonel General Olexander Syrsky spoke on Monday of attacks by the Wagner stormtroopers from different directions to push into the city center, but the aggressors were able to inflict “noticeable losses” with artillery and tanks.

Indeed, the war of attrition seems to be leaving its mark on the Russian ranks. Rows getting thinner and thinner in the constant fighting. The British secret service reported on Monday about increasing personnel problems in the Russian troops, especially in Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary unit.

women forward

According to a report in the English-language online newspaper Moscow Times, which is produced in Moscow, the Russian government has now begun ordering female prisoners to serve in the war in Ukraine. The newspaper refers to statements by the Ukrainian authorities and a Russian organization campaigning for the rights of prisoners.

Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a report Monday that a convoy of vehicles carrying suspected female prisoners had been spotted near the front lines in the Donetsk region. Olga Romanova of the Russian prison rights organization “Russia Behind Bars” confirmed the Ukrainians’ report to the investigative news platform iStories.

Romanova also stated that there have been female convicts in Ukraine since the end of last year. According to them, the women would come from penal colonies in southern Russia, from the Krasnodar region.

It is unclear whether the women volunteered to serve at the front or whether they were pressured and taken to the front with the questionable prospect of freedom if they survived – as previously reported for male prisoners.

Mayor of Melitopol: Ukrainians should go to Bakhmut for Russia

But the recruitment of female prisoners does not seem to be the only measure taken by the Russians to generate new personnel for the front. The mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said in a message that the Wagner group had begun recruiting residents of his city to send to Bakhmut, the Kyiv Independent reports.

Melitopol is located south of Zaporizhia, about halfway between the city known for its nuclear power plant and Crimea. Fedorov, who is in Ukrainian-controlled territory, according to the newspaper, said the Russians are offering residents 200,000 rubles a month (about 2,500 francs) if they go to the front for Russia.

These aren’t the mercenaries’ only recruiting efforts to increase their forces. Wagner boss Prigozhin explained in a video this weekend that Wagner had opened numerous new recruitment centers in various Russian cities.