According to US intelligence, Wagner’s private army is no longer significantly involved in military operations in Ukraine. “At this time, we do not see any significant involvement by Wagner’s troops in combat operations in Ukraine,” a Pentagon spokesman said. It was also established that “the majority” of the fighters are still in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine.
Wagner’s fighters fought some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But after the June 23-24 uprising, the mercenaries were given the option of going into exile, joining regular Russian forces, or returning “home”, as it was said.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said the Wagner mercenaries had completed delivering weapons to Russia’s regular armed forces.
Putin talks offer to Wagner fighters
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that he offered Wagner to continue fighting under his own command. “Many agreed when I said that,” Putin described in the Kommersant daily newspaper (Friday edition) of a Kremlin meeting with representatives of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private army. But it was also Prigozhin who rejected the offer, according to Putin in his account.
At the same time, Putin indirectly admitted in Kommersant that the Russian leadership deliberately relied on an illegal organization in the war against Ukraine. “We have no law on private military organizations (…) The group exists, but legally it does not exist,” said the Kremlin chief.