Dubbed ‘the Musicians,’ the private military company is fighting against Kiev forces
RT
RT’s Murad Gazdiev has been granted the rare opportunity to embed with the Wagner Group, a secretive Russian private military company, as they fight in the Donbass.
The contractors, who call themselves ‘the Orchestra of Wagner,’ or ‘the Musicians,’ conceal their identities. Richard Wagner was a famous 19th century German composer, but the name has also been used in literature, computer games and even by a motorcycle manufacturer.
The contractors, who call themselves ‘the Orchestra of Wagner,’ or ‘the Musicians,’ conceal their identities. The title is thought to be the call sign of the unit’s founder Dmitry Utkin, a veteran of two Chechen wars. Richard Wagner was a famous 19th century German composer but the name has also been used for characters in literature, computer games and comic books and even by a motorcycle manufacturer.
Before Murad joined them, the unit had recently pushed Ukrainian troops out of the village of Klinovoe in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The Wagner fighters fired mortars as Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Aidar Battalion and the ostensibly elite 10th Mountain Assault Brigade were trying to hold them off. “Artillery and mortar duels here are deafening and endless,” Gazdiev said while reporting near a crew.
During their offensive, the Wagner troops came under fire with cluster munitions and had to deal with tripwire anti-personnel mines left by the Ukrainians. “What the sappers can remove safely, they do. What they can’t – or what they deem could be a trap – they blow [up],” Gazdiev said.
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The fighting in Donbass intensified after Russia launched a full-scale military campaign against Ukraine in late February.
Western governments and media have claimed that the Wagner Group conducts operations that Moscow does not want to be publicly associated with.
Reports said that, before Ukraine, the outfit had been operating in the Middle East and Africa.
