Wagner boss claims over 20,000 troops killed in Bakhmut battle.

The head of the Russian private army Wagner claims that over 20,000 of his troops died in the nine-month battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city. The figure is in stark contrast with widely disputed claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war. Analysts believe the fight for Bakhmut alone has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.