The Tsar's Wolves ( rus, Царские волки, Tsarskiye volki, also given as Czar's Wolves) is a Pro- Russian Militia and Mercenary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
The group claims to have named themselves after various Russian militias, with no affiliation to one other, that fought in the Yugoslav Wars and the Transnistria War. The group was formed during the War in the Donbas seeing service in the
Donetsk Oblast
The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...
and Luhansk Oblast. The unit has been described as "experienced military advisers and experts" and provide "military-technical support" for the
Donetsk People's Republic
The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Dmitry Rogozin announced that he is the new leader of the group and will be providing “technical assistance” to the
Russian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
. During the war the group has operated a group of unmanned aerial vehicles and other new advanced technologies. Performing field tests for new Russian military advancements and technologies, mostly through trial by fire, with Rogozin being quoted as "What better conditions to test weapons than in a real war." On December 21, Rogozin was shot and wounded during a three-month stint on the Donetsk front-line. Russian state news agency '' TASS'' stated Rogozin was wounded in a strike by a French manufactured
CAESAR self-propelled howitzer
The CAmion Équipé d'un Système d'ARtillerie (English: ''Truck equipped with an artillery system'') or CAESARAdvanced Research Foundation and Android Technika to test the
Marker
The term Marker may refer to:
Common uses
* Marker (linguistics), a morpheme that indicates some grammatical function
* Marker (telecommunications), a special-purpose computer
* Boundary marker, an object that identifies a land boundary
* Marke ...
unmanned ground vehicle in a "baptism of fire in the Donbas". Russian forces hope the small unmanned vehicle will be able to act as reconnaissance locating and monitoring Ukrainian positions and movements, and even be outfitted with an explosive payload to destroy western-supplied tanks. On 11 May 2023, Rogozin called for total mobilization of Russian men and materials to wage a total war against Ukraine. Citing mounting combat losses, Rogozin stated that " ussiamust bear in mind that the enemy is stronger than us" and that his militia "is losing combat-ready guys."
During the
2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive
In early June 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory with a long-term goal of breaching the frontlines. Efforts were made in many directions, primarily ...
the unit saw combat in the vicinity of Lobkove, where it was unable to stop a Ukrainian advance to take the village.
Rogozin and the Tsar's Wolves have been actively mocked by Yevgeny Prigozhin leader of the fellow mercenary company the Wagner Group. Prigozhin claims that Rogozin is simply putting on a tough-guy persona to regain clout in the Russian government, and to recover from his sacking as head of Roscosmos.
On 9 July, the group reported to have recovered an unexploded Storm Shadow cruise missile, disassembling the missile for transport to Russian facilities for reverse engineering.