Wagner Group Chief Claims Over 20,000 Troops Died in Bakhmut Battle.

The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has admitted that more than 20,000 of his troops have died in the battle for Bakhmut, with half of them being Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. Prigozhin also acknowledged that Russian troops have killed civilians and agreed with Western estimates that Russian losses have accelerated. He criticized Russian military officials for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition and questioned some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale for the war. Ukrainian officials have said their goal in Bakhmut was to exhaust and deplete Russian forces, distract them from protecting territory they occupy elsewhere, and buy time for more Western weapons and ammunition supplies to arrive, and for training to be completed.