General Discussion

would be - would Russian forces (up and down the chain of command) willingly engage in such treachery against fellow fighters and countrymen - in full knowledge of 'political' (rather than strategic) motive?

Friendly fire is one thing ... A deliberate (and it is hard to imagine it otherwise) attack against compatriots ...

(another thought - given the wild hare that Prigozhin and Wagner have become - is there a decent chance that Wagner was in positions that they were told not to be .. ? And thus contributed in large part .. ? )