OPFOR
Assault Recon Group «Panther»
The Wagner Group (Russian: Группа Вагнера), officially known as PMC Wagner (ЧВК «Вагнер», ChVK “Vagner”), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) that was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin, and since then by Pavel Prigozhin. The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.
From the onset of the SMO, Assault Reconnaissance Group “Panther” has been involved in some of the more infamous expeditions during their tenure in Ukraine. Conducting raids and specialising in sabotage, the unit acts as an independent force that, while privately funded under Wagner Group, works closely with MoD forces to achieve genuine strategic victories in the Special Military Operation.
The unit remains at large, as only four of its operators have ever been known to have been captured (as identified via their special patches). However, the unit's size remains largely a mystery due to their tight online presence. Plenty of videos surfaced after Bakhmut of effective FPV drone strikes and trench raids in the Chasov Yar direction in 2023.
The unit did not participate in the Wagner rebellion.
As of 2025, the unit has confirmed via its Telegram channel, through their commander Maxim “Akula” Bulganov, that they are operating in the Southern Pokrovsk direction, assisting in the disruption of Ukrainian logistics through special sabotage actions and FPV drone work.
