Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of Wagner mercenaries (a) killed in action, (b) wounded and (c) deserted from their posts since 24 February 2022.

We estimate that approximately 200,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in the conflict, including up to 60,000 killed in action. Since summer 2022, Wagner and regular Russian forces have likely suffered over 30,000 personnel killed and wounded in the Popasna-Bakhmut area alone. We estimate that over 5,500 Russian armoured vehicles, including nearly 2,000 main battle tanks, 80 fixed wing aircraft, 84 helicopters, 230 unmanned aerial vehicles, 12 naval vessels of all classes, and over 810 artillery systems of all types have been destroyed. Morale amongst Russia's armed forces has been low since the start of the conflict. Heavy losses, poor leadership, and inadequate equipment have all contributed to this. Moreover, a large proportion of Russia's land forces are now made up of mobilised personnel who likely have low motivation to fight in the conflict.