Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered army commanders to strengthen the northern military sector after the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner arrived in Belarus, where he could set up a base, Reuters and Agerpres reported on Friday.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, and the Commander of the Northern Military Sector, Serhii Nayev, were instructed to implement a number of measures to strengthen this direction, Zelenskyi said in Telegram.
He also noted that he had a meeting with government officials and the military, where he received a report from the intelligence services and security forces on the situation in Belarus, a country that borders Ukraine to the north and whose territory was at the beginning of the Russian invasion. , the launching pad for an offensive in northern Ukraine, from where Russian troops have since withdrawn to focus on the east and south of that country.
In his statement, Zelensky did not mention Yevhen Prigozhin, who went into exile in Belarus after the uprising he launched late last week to oust Russia’s military leadership, which he accused of incompetence in the war in Ukraine.
Wagner’s mercenaries will receive a military base in Belarus
According to an agreement mediated by the Belarusian President Oleksandr Lukashenka, the leader of the “Wagner” PMC stopped the march towards Moscow that had begun with the militants.
The agreement states that Prigozhin will go into hiding in Belarus in exchange for Russia dropping charges of insurgency, and the group’s fighters can decide to integrate into the Russian army, while those who don’t want to can also go to Belarus with Prigozhin. .
President Lukashenko declared that he would not build a base for Wagner’s group, but gave it access to a decommissioned base of the Belarusian army.
According to the media, in this way, Wagner’s group will create a base near the city of Asypovychi, approximately 90 kilometers from the capital, Minsk.
Currently, it is believed that only the top commanders of the Wagner group, such as Dmytro Utkin, who in 2014 created a de facto paramilitary organization with money provided by Prigozhin, are in hiding in Belarus with Prigozhin.
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Source: Hot News
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