Since Russia's invasion to Ukraine, both sides have been losing substantial amount of men and resources.
And in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has received help from allies, including from the Wagner Group, which is a Russian paramilitary organization that consists of a privately-funded army personnel and mercenaries.
And during the war, the Wagner Group, which has long been been linked to neo-Nazis and far-right extremists, is losing quite a lot or resources.
In a desperate plea, the group uses one of its many linked Telegram channels to share a video of corpses.
In the video that is less than 2 minutes long, a person recording the video is seen walking inside a warehouse, which is apparently full of dead bodies
Hundreds of corpses of deceased military personnel are seen wrapped in black plastic body bags, while others were already put inside their own wooden coffins.
"Soldiers of PMC 'Wagner' continue to send home the dead soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the video caption reads. "Hundreds of bodies, which occupy a huge space, are stacked in coffins, which will then be delivered to the Ukrainian side."
In a later video, the group also said that they're running out of supplies, mainly ammunitions.
"Every day we carry out complex combat missions and cover our assault groups. At the moment, we are completely cut off from the supply of ammunition," the caption of the video reads.
The same message is echoed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group.
The Russian oligarch and the self-claimed owner of the private military contractor said that he is "knocking on every door" of anyone who can help him.
"As far as regular supplies go, I have knocked on the door of every office in Moscow I know and I will try to do that until the lads get all they need," he said, adding that “even if they handcuff me at one of those offices and jail me for ‘discrediting the armed forces’."
Here, Prigozhin is risking himself criminalized, referencing to Russia’s notorious war censorship law that never sides with anyone who criticizes the invasion.
"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 said. "You have all heard that the recruitment of prisoners to our ranks has stopped."
According to the U.S.' assessment, Prigozhin’s Wagner Group has suffered more than 30,000 casualties, with 9,000 of the deceased were killed in action, White House National Security Council’s John Kirby told reporters.
Of those killed since December 2022, 90% were convicts.
While Prigozhin has openly lashed out at the Russian military for mismanaging the disastrous invasion of Ukraine, he said that he was able to secure some mortars and anti-tank rounds from unofficial sources, including from a commander in Chechnya.
A day later, another video was made to appeal to the Russian Ministry of Defense showing men in camouflage calling themselves Wagner’s artillery men was posted on Telegram.
In the video, the Wagner Group troops stated that they have been cut off from artillery supplies, and that they're losing hundreds of personnel a day because the Russian Ministry of Defense is not providing them with the weapons, ammunition, and other supplies they need.
" [...] There could have been half as many of them if the military functionaries had supplied us with weapons, ammunition and everything that was needed on time. Stop messing around, let us fight, let us defend our country, our homeland. There are hundreds of our guys here. Send your children, sons-in-law, who shoot TikToks, to this war."
"We’re sure that you have ammunition somewhere at the warehouses. We badly need it," said the unidentified men.
"We would greatly appreciate it if you could assist us and help deliver that ammunition."
Likely because of the group's desperation of supplies, that the video was made using a far more respectful tone than those the group has posted in the past.
Before, alleged Wagner Group fighters were heard calling General Valery Gerasimov, head of the Russian General Staff, a "faggot" for delaying supplies to the front.
Since Russia is facing a number of defeats, the Wagner Group, which consists of trained units, has become one of Kremlin's major backup.
In response to the news, Igor Girkin, a Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, said that Wagner Group’s ammunition shortage could compromise Russia’s ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraine.
“Unless supplies for Wagner improve, we can safely forget about seizing Bakhmut any time soon or ever,” he said on his Telegram channel.
It's suggested that Ukrainian troops may respond the news with counter-offensive attacks, if reports about ammunition shortages are confirmed, and aren't just some war strategy to lure Ukraine fighters into their deaths.
At this time, Russia President Vladimir Putin seems to be shifting his strategy.
As Western officials warned that Putin is preparing for a revise offense strategy, General Valery Gerasimov began to lean more heavily on conventional military forces.
Simultaneously, Prigozhin's influence seems to be reduced.
Read: Hundreds Of Russian Mercenary Videos Reached A Combined 1 Billion Views On TikTok, Research Found