Russia is using Wagner mercenaries to bolster its troops in Ukraine, UK intelligence warns. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out against individual EU states vetoing the bloc's foreign policy. DW rounds up the latest.

Russia has been employing mercenaries from the private military contractor Wagner to reinforce its regular troops fighting on the front line in Ukraine, according to the British Defense Ministry.

In its daily intelligence update, it said the Wagner Group had lowered its recruitment standards and started hiring convicts and individuals who had previously been blacklisted.

UK officials said this change, along with the limited training given to new recruits, would "highly likely impact on the future operational effectiveness of the group and will reduce its value as a prop to the regular Russian forces."

The fact that the head of Wagner, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, had recently received a high national honor for his military performance might also aggravate tensions between Russia's military and the mercenary group, the update said.

DW