Kyiv decided to strengthen the border in response to the possible movement of PMC Wagner militants into Belarus.
Against the background of information about the movement of militants PMC Wagner in Belarus, Ukraine decided to strengthen troops on the northern border. Today, President Volodymyr Zelensky held another Headquarters. As a result, Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny and head of the northern direction Sergei Naev were ordered to strengthen the protection of the border with Belarus.
Whether such a decision is connected with a possible new attack of Russian troops from the territory of this country, or whether Kyiv decided to play it safe, read in the story Correspondent.net.
What the president says
Today Zelensky heard a report from the Main Intelligence Directorate, Foreign Intelligence Service, Security Service of Ukraine and State Border Service on the situation in Belarus. And after that, he assured that the border situation is under the constant control of the Ukrainian side. At the same time, the Headquarters decided to strengthen the defense in this direction, the president said.
It should be noted that on the eve of Zelensky he was convinced that the contingent PMC Wagner in Belarus is not so important, because more than 20,000 mercenaries of Yevgeny Prigozhin have already been destroyed by the Ukrainian defense forces.
Africa instead of Belarus
Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov confirmed that there are no plans for a mass return of Prigozhin’s troops to Belarus.
“The hub they are building in Belarus is designed for logistics purposes. They will also have office space and a recruiting center. And this hub is being built for operations Wagner abroad, mainly in Africa,” Budanov explained in an interview with The War zone.
According to him, most of the staff Wagnerwhich previously participated in the hostilities in Ukraine, will also be gradually redeployed to Africa to deploy operations there.
Budanov believed that Prigozhin was not creating any problems for Ukraine while in Belarus, and when asked how many “Wagnerites” were there, the head of the GUR replied: “None, only a few people from in his advanced group.”
Worst case scenario
In turn, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny reported that the militants Wagner left the front line in Ukraine.
“We didn’t feel that their (Russian army – ed.) defense weakened somewhere or something like that,” he said in an interview for The Washington Post.
Journalists of the publication note that due to the transfer of Prigozhin’s mercenaries to Belarus, “Zaluzhny may now have to consider a new, additional threat on its northern border.”
To this statement, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine replied: “I have a lot to fear, and Wagner theirs. And they’re not the only ones. If we start talking about it now, my head will spin … Our task is to prepare for the worst and possible scenarios. And we will try to minimize the possible consequences of what could happen.”
According to Zaluzhny, it can be assumed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces considered an attack by Belarus as the worst-case scenario, so Kyiv decided to play it safe.
dangerous element
Not only Ukraine, because of the possible presence of “Wagnerites” in Belarus, decided to play it safe, but Poland is also strengthening its border. This was announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Yaroslav Kaczynski.
“We have, at least potentially, a new situation in Belarus with presence PMC Wagner. According to the data we have today, it can be assumed that there will be approximately 8 thousand soldiers. This is an element that is dangerous for Ukraine, potentially also dangerous for Lithuania and could be dangerous for us,” Kaczynski said.
According to him, the number of military and border guards that will continue to be stationed there will be increased at the border, as well as more barriers and fortifications will be added to protect the border in case of an attack. Both permanent and temporary structures will be built there.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.