Wagner mercenary group will ‘decrease’ as prisoner recruitment ends, says boss

Kremlin is said to be pushing back against private army and curbing influence of Yevgeny Prighozin

• ‘He’s really dangerous’: fear as Wagner convict soldiers return from Ukraine

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that his mercenary group is facing difficulties in Ukraine and will soon “decrease” in size, amid growing evidence that his political influence in the Kremlin is waning.

“The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to,” Prigozhin told a group of pro-war bloggers and state journalists gathered at an army barracks in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday.