The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports.
Prigozhin introduces a "Stalinist" method of recruitment, which allows the Kremlin to avoid the order for general mobilization.
"Military bloggers constantly praise Prigozhin's success in Ukraine, and some even say that he should replace Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom they and Kremlin experts blame for Russia's defeat at Kharkiv," analysts say.
Thus, Russian military correspondent and blogger Maksym Fomin (pseudonym Vladlen Tatarskyi) claims that he spoke with Prigozhin about the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area.
Institute experts believe that the meeting between Prigozhin and Fomin may indicate that the Kremlin tries to respond to months-long complaints by bloggers that the Russian Ministry of Defense did not listen to their criticism, which highlights the ineffectiveness of the Russian high command.
"The financier of Wagner's PMC Yevgenyi Prigozhin becomes the face of the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine," the report says.
Other key findings from ISW analysts:
Russian forces likely target Ukrainian hydrotechnical infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk region to prevent Ukraine from operating across the Ingulets river;
Funding of volunteer battalions is likely to create financial difficulties for Russian cities and regions;
Russian occupation authorities shut down mobile internet in Luhansk Oblast on September 14 to preserve Russia's operational security and better control the information environment as Russian occupiers flee from the recently liberated Kharkiv Oblast into Russian territory and territories controlled by it;
On September 14, despite the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the eastern front, Russian troops continued their ground attacks throughout Donetsk region.
At the end of August, it was already reported that Prigozhin recruiters new Wagnerites in the colonies: he promised a war "for years" and mutations in the event of a nuclear war. On September 14, a video, showing Prigozhin personally recruiting prisoners for the war with Ukraine, appeared.