Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC, said that the group will return to the Ukrainian front in August, and until then the fighters are “resting and preparing”, according to CNN, according to News.ro. Commander Wagner on Wednesday reiterated his fighter jets’ refusal to sign contracts with the Defense Department, a day after President Vladimir Putin said they were needed.

“We are resting and preparing. On June 5, we left, and on August 5, according to forecasts, Wagner’s PMK will continue to fulfill its tasks in full combat readiness,” Prigozhin said while talking to journalists in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk. region.

A video of these claims was shared on Tuesday via Orkestr Wagnera, its unofficial Telegram channel. Prigozhin’s press office confirmed on Tuesday that he visited Ulyanovsk with Viktor Bout, a former Soviet soldier turned arms dealer who was convicted in the US but released in a prisoner swap with American basketball star Brittney Griner.

Previously, Prigozhin stated that Wagner’s fighters would be replaced by Russian regular forces in the Bakhmut area and redeployed away from the front line.

Prigozhin announced the capture of Bakhmut in May after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukraine recently reported progress in the area.

Prigozhin rejects Putin’s request that his fighters sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense

Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s mercenaries on Wednesday reiterated his refusal to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, a day after President Vladimir Putin said the arrangements were necessary. In a rare direct show of defiance of the Russian leader, Prigozhin said that “none of Wagner’s fighters are ready to go down the path of disgrace again. That’s why they will not sign the contracts,” according to Reuters.

• Prigozhin says he is not sure if Wagner will fight again in Ukraine / How Putin sided with Shoigu

During a televised meeting with Russian military journalists and bloggers on Tuesday, Putin backed the Defense Ministry’s call for “volunteers” in Ukraine to sign contracts with the country’s military command, a move analysts see as a means by which the military wants and asserts control over Wagner. Putin noted that these contracts are necessary so that all participants in the Russian campaign in Ukraine can receive their due social benefits. They include compensation to combatants if they are injured and to their families if they are killed in action.

Since last year, Prigozhin has had a bitter public dispute with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of failing to provide adequate support and ammunition to Wagner’s forces in Ukraine and thereby causing greater casualties.

However, in a speech on Wednesday, he said he believed a “compromise solution” would be found between Putin and parliament to allow Wagner fighters to receive both social security and combatant status.

We remind you that Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order according to which Russian volunteer units must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense by July 1, an order that he justified by the need for better integration of Russian military units, which would promote “unified approaches.” when performing combat tasks.

Yevgeny Prigozhin immediately reacted, declaring that “Wagner” would not sign a similar contract, which, meanwhile, according to the Russian military TV channel “Zvezda”, three brigades and four volunteer units, as well as the Chechen group “Akhmat” led by Ramzan Kadyrov, had signed .

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro