Ukraine's Intelligence Directorate Head answered whether the Wagnerites remain on the territory of Ukraine

The head of the Chief Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said that currently the Wagner Group mercenaries are still in the south of Ukraine and in occupied Luhansk, where they have a base. According to the head of the Chief Intelligence Directorate, the mercenaries are not taking part in hostilities.

Source: Budanov in a comment for Ukrainska Pravda

In particular, Budanov was asked whether the Wagnerites remain on the territory of Ukraine.

Quote: "As of now, they are on the territory of Luhansk at the base that has existed since 2014.

They are also located in some areas in the south of Ukraine. But they don't take part in hostilities."

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
• Late in the evening of 23 June, General Sergey Surovikin recorded a video message in which he called on the mercenaries to "stop".
• On 24 June, the Wagnerites took control of military facilities in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and seized military facilities in the city of Voronezh. They were on their way to Moscow, and the Russian capital was preparing for defence.
• On June 24, following a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were heading back to the field camps. He had been promised that the criminal charges against him in Russia were to be dropped, and he was supposed to "leave for Belarus".
• On 26 June, Prigozhin claimed that the purpose of his march on Moscow was to protect the Wagner Group from being wiped out, as the mercenaries had to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence by 1 July, which they did not wish to do. He also claimed that he had stopped in order to "avoid shedding Russian blood" when Lukashenko suggested finding a way for the Wagner Group to continue operating in a "legitimate jurisdiction". Prigozhin is allegedly in Belarus now.
• Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, has finally given up his demands that Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov be dismissed.
• Putin officially offered the Wagnerites an opportunity to join other military formations or the Russian Defence Ministry, or to move to Belarus. Wagner’s armoured vehicles are being made ready for transfer to the Russian Defence Ministry.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!