Wagner thugs cross border into Belarus, Ukraine confirms

Wagner Group mercenaries have crossed the border from Russia into Belarus, Ukraine’s border guard service (DPSU) has confirmed.

And Belaruski Hajun, an unbiased Belarusian monitoring group, has likewise confirmed the presence of the troops within the nation, a transfer assured to lift considerations within the West.

The DPSU is assessing what number of “militants” are in Belarus, which additionally shares a prolonged border with Ukraine.

DPSU spokesman Andriy Demchenko confirmed Wagner fighters have been in Belarus in an announcement issued right this moment, saying Ukrainian border guards have been “continuing to monitor the situation”.

Belaruski Hajun, which tracks the movements of armed forces in Belarus, said that at least 60 trucks, buses and other large vehicles crossed into the Eastern European country accompanied by Belarusian police.

The group did not immediately provide photos or videos of the vehicles but said they had licence plates from Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, where Wagner mercenaries fought alongside Russian troops until a short-lived mutiny last month.

The convoy headed toward a military base outside Osipovichi, a town 230 kilometres (142 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, the group said.

Earlier this month, satellite images showed rows of tent-like structures which appeared to have been built at the base between June 15 and June 30.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the time Minsk could use Wagner’s experience and expertise, and that he had offered the fighters an “abandoned military unit” to set up camp.

Later that week, a leader of an anti-Lukashenko guerrilla group claimed construction of a site for the mercenaries was underway near Osipovichi.

Ukraine’s Centre for National Resistance, an arm of the Ukrainian defence ministry which assists guerrilla groups in Russia-occupied territory, said later today about 240 Wagner fighters, 40 trucks and “a large amount of weapons” had arrived in the Osipovichi area.

It cited unspecified members of Belarus’ underground anti-Lukashenko opposition as the source of the information, which couldn’t be independently verified.

The Belarusian Defence Ministry said in an online statement late yesterday that it had developed a “road map” with Wagner’s management for joint training exercises drills by the nation’s military personnel and the private mercenaries.

Earlier Friday, the Defence Ministry said that Wagner fighters had begun training Belarusian soldiers. A television channel affiliated with the ministry showed footage of fighters in black masks instructing soldiers on how to shoot and provide first aid.

On June 23, the Wagner group’s founder and leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his fighters to leave their camps in Ukraine and head towards Moscow to demand the elimination of Russia‘s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu and General Staff chief, General Valery Gerasimov.

The mutiny shook Russia and posed the largest problem to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin’s one-time benefactor, during his decades in power.

In the revolt lasting less than 24 hours, Wagner fighters swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there, before driving to within about 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the Russian capital.

Prigozhin had accused the senior Russian military leadership for months of bungling the war in Ukraine and starving his troops of ammunition.

Lukashenko then brokered a deal which shielded Prigozhin and his men from prosecution, allowing the Wagner founder to move to Belarus in exchange for ordering his mercenaries back to the camps – although he has not been seen in public since.

Putin indicated on Friday that he intends to maintain Wagner as a single fighting force under its existing commander, while appearing to denigrate Prigozhin by suggesting he was not the group’s “real leader”.

A humiliating picture of 62-year-old Prigozhin sitting on the bed of a tent in his pants has also been circulating online.

Putin’s remarks, made in an interview with Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, appeared to mirror the Kremlin’s efforts to safe the loyalty of the mercenaries, who make up a few of the most succesful Russian forces in Ukraine.

Lukashenko beforehand allowed the Kremlin to make use of Belarusian territory to ship troops and weapons into Ukraine.

He has additionally welcomed a continued Russian armed presence in Belarus, together with joint navy camps and workouts, in addition to the deployment of a few of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons there.