US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the Wagner PMC proved to be more effective in the war in Ukraine than the Russian regular army.

He stated this during a trip to the Middle East. Austin added that the Wagnerian methods were interesting but unthinkable.

"They've used convicts, prisoners to kind of lead their charge routinely, and I don't think they're recruiting from the prisons anymore. But those types of techniques have just been really interesting, quite frankly, unthinkable, and we've seen a lot of convicts meet their demise fairly early on, but you know, they're a bit better than the Russian forces," Austin said.

According to the head of the Pentagon, the United States saw how many prisoners died quickly on the battlefield.

"Now, having said that, we've not seen exemplary performance from the Russian forces writ large," he concluded.