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According to a Ukraine General Staff report doctors in Yuvileine are refusing to provide medical assistance to mercenaries from the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group. The doctors claim that most soldiers are carriers of diseases like HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and tuberculosis. Most of the cases have gone untreated for years.

The group, also known as “Putin’s private army,” has been recruiting in Russian prisons. They have been offering some of the worst criminals an amnesty deal in return for signing up for the battlefield in Ukraine. Russian prisons are notorious for terrible conditions and lack of modern medical facilities.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence claims that Wagner provides wristbands to the convicts-turned-soldiers. The wristbands indicate the disease. Red bands are for HIV. And white bands are for hepatitis.

There have been reports that several fighters with HIV and hepatitis are already in Ukrainian captivity. And the prisoners confirm the mass recruitment of infected prisoners by Wagner.

Wagner Group expanding 

British intelligence posted an Intelligence Update on Jan. 20 which indicates that Wagner now commands up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine.

On Dec. 27, 2022, the Russian Unified State Register confirms that the paramilitary Wagner Group was formally registered as a legal entity.

In the meantime, the soldiers with “nothing to lose” appear to be having some success for the Russians. And they appear to be the only force fighting the Kremlin's war having any success on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Last week the US government announced sweeping sanctions aimed at the Wagner Group.

The US Treasury Department has designated Wagner a "significant transnational criminal organization." 

Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen announced, "As sanctions and export controls on Russia from our international coalition continue to bite, the Kremlin is desperately searching for arms and support – including through the brutal Wagner Group – to continue its unjust war against Ukraine.”

 “Today’s expanded sanctions on Wagner, as well as new sanctions on their associates and other companies enabling the Russian military complex, will further impede Putin’s ability to arm and equip his war machine.”