As Ukraine is trying re-invigorate its counteroffensive against the well-entrenched Russian positions in the Zaporizhzhia front, as Western analysts say (‘A Wall of Steel’: Ukrainian Troops Face Hard Slog in Offensive’s First Days), the exile of the head of the mercenary PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin to neighbouring Belarus following the failed insurrection against Putin poses a fresh potential threat, a former British Army chief Richard Dannatt has told Sky News.
He claimed that Vladimir Putin might be “wounded” by the brief failed mutiny and his frontline troops are demoralised, Dannatt said the Kyiv government should be alert against a cross-border attack from Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group.
Dannatt said that the Wagner troops have played a crucial role in the Ukraine war, capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, but Prigozhin has increasingly criticised the military top brass, accusing it of incompetence and depriving his troops of ammunition.
The brief revolt ended after Prigozhin reached a deal with the Kremlin that will see him move to Belarus, which has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainians had hoped the Russian infighting would create opportunities for their army to take back territory seized by Russian forces.
But Lord Dannatt said: “Apparently he’s left the stage to go to Belarus but is that the end of Prigozhin and the Wagner Group? The fact that he’s gone to Belarus is I think a matter of some concern.
“What we don’t know, what we will discover in the next hours and days is… how many of his fighters have actually gone with him.
“If he has gone to Belarus and has kept an effective fighting force around him, he then presents a threat again to the Ukrainian flank closest to Kyiv which is where all this began on 24 February last year.
“Although it would appear that this matter is closed I think it is far from closed and the aftershocks will reverberate for quite some time.
“They (Ukraine) need to watch that flank very carefully and make sure they have got some manoeuvre units such that they could repel a renewed attack from the direction of Belarus.”
source news.sky.com
