Wagner Troops Will Defend Belgorod Region, Warns Prigozhin
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, said he was prepared to send his mercenary troops to the Russian border region where raids from Ukrainian territory have taken place.
In an audio post on Telegram, Prigozhin reiterated on Saturday his criticism of the Russian Defense Ministry's handling of the war in Ukraine, this time about how it was dealing with armed incursions into the Russian region of Belgorod, from where thousands have fled.
Belgorod has been hit by numerous attacks with the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, saying on Friday, there were more than 500 projectile weapons fired, most of them around the town of Shebekino.
A fighter of the Russian Volunteer Corps on an armored personnel carrier in northern Ukraine, not far from the Russian border, on May 24, 2023. Russian nationals fighting on Ukraine's side staged a cross-border raid in Russia's Belgorod region, prompting Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to say he would send his troops to defend the area. SERGEY BOBOK/Getty Images
The same day, the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group comprised of Russians who side with Ukraine and oppose Vladimir Putin, posted videos on social media of combat they said was in the Belgorod village Novaya Tavolzhanka.
But on Saturday, Prigozhin said that his troops may have to step into the fray and that "the only thing we will be asking for is ammunition."
"If the [Russian] Ministry of Defense does not stop what is happening in the Belgorod region soon, then, of course, we will come to the Belgorod region and protect our Russian people and all those who live there," he said.
He said that his fighters would not wait for an "invitation" and that the "civilian population is dying in Belgorod."
Local authorities have said that at least 27 people were injured and the governor announced on Saturday that the death toll had risen to five. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
In May, Prigozhin declared that his fighters had captured Bakhmut although Ukraine has said that fighting is ongoing on the outskirts of the eastern Donetsk city fought over for months. Prigozhin said that most of his troops have left the city, though on May 20, he said they would complete their withdrawal by June 1.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram on Saturday that Russian fighters had yet to completely leave Bakhmut and that the Wagner fighters were training regular Russian army troops who were replacing them.
Maliar said the situation in Bakhmut was "stable" and that Ukrainian forces still control the southwestern edges of the city.
Prigozhin also said on Saturday that a dispute between him and Ramzan Kadyrov had been resolved over the phone. The Wagner boss had recently suggested that the Chechen Akhmat battalion was not capable of occupying Ukraine's self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic.
Source: Newsweek
