Media: Wagner PMC Loses 80 Men Killed, Hundreds Wounded Under US Air Force Fire

Journalists have identified the mercenaries killed in Syria.

The U.S. army has defeated units of the Wagner PMC in Syria. This has come to light thanks to a leak from Evgeny Prigozhin's structures.

US troops clashed with the Wagner PMC forces in the conflict in Syria and defeated them, the Dossier Centre, Arte, Paris Match and The Insider reported in their investigation.

The incident was first reported by the US on February 7, 2018. As reported by the Pentagon, in the early hours of the morning, some 500 foot soldiers from Bashar al-Assad-controlled formations, under cover of artillery and tanks, attacked a stronghold of Kurds from the opposition Syrian Democratic Forces, and American advisers were there. US military aircraft retaliated, destroying about a hundred "Syrian militants". The Kurds and the Americans had no losses. The Russian Defence Ministry's comment was laconic: the Syrian militias were conducting "search and reconnaissance activities" not coordinated with the command of the Russian task force, there are no Russian military personnel in the area, and 25 Syrians were wounded in the coalition raid.

Igor Strelkov was the first to speak publicly about the involvement of fighters from the Wagner group in the incident. At 5:17 p.m. on February 8, his message appeared on VKontakte:

"Under the guise of "Syrians", whose losses are estimated as many as 100 people killed, 2 Wagner tactical units were struck by US aviation. One was almost completely destroyed, the second one was crushed. The casualties are in all likelihood very close to that figure."

A little later, CBS News mentioned the possible involvement of Russian citizens in the battle, citing the Pentagon: the source suggested that "Russian mercenaries" might have been among Assad's militia, but expressed doubt that any of them had been killed.

Military analyst Ruslan Leviev of the Conflict Intelligence Team was the first to name the dead Russians in public space. By analysing the content of social media, he was able to establish the details of four dead Wagner fighters: Aleksey Ladygin from Ryazan, Stanislav Matveev and Igor Kosoturov from Asbest, and Vladimir Loginov from Kaliningrad. Later, Mediazona published information about the death of former National Bolshevik Kirill Ananyev. Ukrainian bloggers suggested that Aleksey Shikhov from Nizhny Novgorod was killed near Khsham. A dead fighter named Vladimir Apostol was also mentioned. Bloomberg, citing two Russian citizens familiar with the situation, reported about 200 dead in the Wagner group. Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK), citing its own sources, estimated casualties at 40 (of which most were Syrians), MK's data was confirmed by Vedomosti. Novaya Gazeta, quoting "sources in Syria", reported 14 casualties, while Kommersant, quoting "a Russian military source", reported 11.

Vladimir Shamanov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, described the casualty figures as unreliable: "Judging by the analysis of the structures and the intelligence community, there are many signs that someone is overstating the case on purpose.

Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Defence and holder of many other titles, insisted after speaking to a "high-ranking source": "In this clash, three people were killed and 42 were wounded, of whom 25 were Syrian militiamen, by American helicopter and artillery strikes".

Novorossiya blogger and activist Mikhail Polynkov allegedly managed to speak to one of the surviving fighters. He estimated that the number of "two hundred" (i.e. those killed in action) might have been as many as 600.

According to Polynkov's interlocutor, three Wagner formations participated in the "operation" to attack Kurdish positions on the left bank of the Euphrates: the 2nd and 5th Assault Squads and the "Vesna" group, also known as the "Karpaty", each numbering approximately 350 men. The units included armoured reconnaissance and patrol cars, ZU-23-2 twin anti-aircraft guns, an armoured group of T-72 tanks and artillery division of 122 mm D-30 howitzers. There was no air defence cover, except for the 23mm ZU. An attempted assault on Kurdish positions was followed by artillery fire, and an American air missile and bombing strike that virtually destroyed the Wagner convoy.

Polynkov's informant gave a fairly accurate description of the units under attack, but grossly misstated the casualties.

The Washington Post reported the Kurdish side's point of view, citing Kurdish Army General Hassan. According to him, at 9:30 p.m. on February 7, the general received intelligence reports that Bashar al-Assad's forces were preparing an offensive on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Hassan called a "Russian contact in Deir ez-Zor" and asked if the Russians were planning such an operation, but the "contact" assured him that there were no Russian ground troops in the area. When the attack on Kurdish formations from the right bank of the Euphrates began around 10pm, it was responded to by Kurdish allies, the United States Air Force. More than "100 people" were killed, he said. General Hassan said he was surprised when he was contacted by his Russian counterpart and asked for a pause in the bombing to evacuate the Russian wounded and dead, which he claimed could not have been there.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked by a journalist about the situation near Khsham, said there was no information on "other Russians":

"As you know, we are operating in this case with data relating to members of the Russian Armed Forces who are taking part in the military operation in support of the Syrian army. We do not have any data on other Russians who may be in Syria, and we recommend that you contact the defence ministry.

When asked whether the declaration of mourning "in connection with the deaths of a large number of citizens" in Syria was under consideration, Peskov said he "did not understand the question."

The United States authorities looked remarkably similar to their Russian counterparts in their comments. On February 14, 2018, the Pentagon brought to a briefing Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigan, chief of the US Air Force Central Command, who explained that F-15E fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, AC-130 attack aircraft, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and B-52 strategic bombers were engaged to repel an attack by a certain hostile group against the US-friendly Syrian Democratic Forces on February 7. But the general refused even to suggest whom exactly these forces had destroyed.

A day later, on February 15, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova admitted that something had happened, but that no more than five "presumed" Russian citizens had been killed:

"According to preliminary data, five people, presumably Russian citizens, may have been killed as a result of the armed clash, the reasons for which are now being clarified."

Zakharova insisted, however, that "dozens of victims" was out of the question, accusing the press of publishing unverified information "fabricated by terrorists".

The most comprehensive and accurate information on the deaths of Russian citizens on the banks of the Euphrates River was provided by a country not involved in the Syrian conflict. In autumn 2018, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) published a list of 206 Wagner soldiers who, according to the SBU, took part in the battle near Khsham. The service was allegedly able to confirm the deaths of 64 of them.

There are several lists in the archives, which the Dossier Centre has studied, from which the number of Wagner soldiers killed and wounded in February 2018 can be accurately counted.

The first list gives the participants in the battle who were presented with state honours. It includes, inter alia, the names of 77 dead - apparently it was compiled in the first days after the battle. Later two more names were added to the list. Thus, the number of the dead has grown to 79 people.

In the second list of the Wagner servicemen presented for the posthumous award of the Order of Courage, there are 80 names, and it looks the most complete. The discrepancies can be explained by clarifications, and by the fact that several people may have died of their wounds some time after the battle. The list of those presented for award (or already awarded) is dated May 11, 2018.

The number of wounded is a little more difficult to calculate. The list of wounded, compiled at the beginning of March 2018, contains details of 186 Wagner soldiers who received wounds and contusions on February 8. The number of those presented with awards suggests that not all the victims of the US Air Force strike were honoured in this way. According to these lists, only 56 people were presented with various awards: 41 were awarded the Medal of Courage and 15 were awarded the Order of Courage.

These documents also confirm the information of Polynkov's interlocutor about the involvement of specific units of the Wagner PMC in the battle - they indicate the ranks of those presented for awarding and their belonging to a particular unit. The most serious losses were suffered by the 5th Assault Squad (this is how the PMC refers to the main tactical unit, roughly corresponding to a reinforced company) - 41 people killed and about 140 wounded. As of autumn 2017, the 5th Assault Squad was supposed to have 206 men, but in fact there were no more than 200 men in Syria. Thus, almost all of the squad's personnel were lost at Khsham.

Another Wagner unit that has come under attack is the Karpaty group. This group, as Dosye knows from conversations with Wagner veterans, was formed in 2014 mainly from Ukrainian citizens, ethnic Ukrainians fluent in the Ukrainian language and familiar with local realities. Initially, the plan was to use them for undercover reconnaissance deep inside Ukraine and to conduct sabotage deep behind the Ukrainian army lines. Subsequently, this idea was abandoned and the group was transformed into an ordinary line company. However, it retained a certain flavour: it was where foreign mercenaries who joined Wagner were sent.

The losses of Karpaty were 23 men killed and 16 wounded. Its personnel strength, according to staff lists from our archives, and according to accounts of the mercenaries themselves, was less than that of the 5th assault squad, and such losses also meant a complete loss of combat effectiveness.

Other losses were distributed among reinforcement units: crews of the self-propelled 122 mm howitzer 2C1 "Gvozdika" and towed howitzer D-30, tank crews, engineer-sapper company, communications company, support units. Based on the fact that three tank men were wounded and three killed, we can conclude that there were at least two tanks in the column. The 2nd assault squad, which was mentioned by the source of blogger Polynkov, was not practically involved in the fighting: according to the documents, there were no killed in the squad, four were wounded.

The causes of death were consistent with the results of a massive air strike: predominantly traumatic destruction of all or part of the body, charring of the body, severing of the head or limbs.