Part of Wagner forces remains in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – Pentagon
The US Department of Defense has information that some of the mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Private Military Company are still on the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.
Source: General Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, quoted by the Ukrinform news agency
Quote: "On Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine."
Details: Ryder also commented on media reports that satellite images of military units in Belarus showed new buildings that could be used to house Wagner PMC fighters.
"I've seen the press reports [...]. Clearly, that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on," Ryder said.
Ryder has also said that US intelligence would keep monitoring the activities of all Wagner PMC clusters in different regions of the world.
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".
- 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.
- In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country. Ukrainian intelligence said he had urgently left Moscow for a bunker in Valdai.
- On 24 June, following a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were heading back to their field camps. He had been promised that the criminal charges against him in Russia were to be dropped, and he was to "leave for Belarus".
- On 27 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin's business jet flew from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to Belarus, and another plane arrived there from St Petersburg.
- The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that the criminal case of the armed rebellion against Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), had been closed.
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