\n\n“\u201cNow we\u2019re fighting a conventional Russian army, but before Bakhmut fell, the Wagner group was in the area, and they had a particularly terrible approach to this. The group sent forward unarmed men, mostly prisoners, with ammunition for the next group who were experienced mercenaries. They thus used the prisoners as a meat transport machine for ammunition and equipment,\u201d says Mathew, a medic with Ukraine\u2019s Third Assault Brigade. He took The Daily Beast in his ambulance to watch them picking up soldiers like \u2018Cossack\u2019 from the front line and delivering them to hospitals for emergency treatment. This approach, they say, was uncomfortably effective. \u201cThey had no fear\u201d he says, because the consequences of retreat were \u201ccertain death\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analysis told The Daily Beast: \u201cWagner troops were better motivated, but in the Stalinist tradition that in Wagner it took more courage to retreat than to attack\u201d\u2014knowing they would be shot at any sign of retreat. He notes that they also had \u201ca significant artillery advantage provided by the Russian military (hence Prigozhin\u2019s endless arguments for more munitions), having their flanks secured by the Russian airborne, and a large supply of expendable fighters from the Russian prison system,\u201d all of which are lacked by the current Russian forces. He also points out that \u201cWagner had not been used, or set up, as a defensive force in this war and so it is unclear how they would have performed on the defense around Bakhmut\u2019s flanks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Wagner vanished, Matthew says the quality of the Russian soldiers has declined and the men are more likely to flee or let their lines break under pressure. \u201cThe ones we meet don\u2019t even pick up their dead,\u201d he said.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“\u201cThe counteroffensive is going well,\u201d he says, but what he fears most is a longer war. \u201cEveryone who wanted to fight signed up long ago,\u201d he says from a caf\u00e9 in the city of Slovyansk. \u201cIf the Russians wanted to, they have millions of men they can mobilize. We are at our total limit.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n