A senior Ukrainian military official, Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty on Wednesday, the 27th of September, told that several hundred Russian Wagner PMC mercenaries have reappeared on the front lines in Ukraine, fighting as part of various Russian military units on the eastern front of the conflict, reports Politico.
Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Eastern Troops Group for strategic communications, has stated that “the Wagnerites are not hiding”. These mercenaries have been openly spotted, suggesting that their intention may have been to intimidate Ukrainian forces, Cherevaty said, noting that the group as an organisation is perceived as weakened and that some of its fighters have been redeployed to Africa to earn more money, while
“the less fortunate ones” have returned to Ukraine.
He stressed that Ukrainian intelligence services are closely monitoring the situation on the battlefield in the Donbas where the Wagnerites are deployed, warning that they know all about them.
Commenting on the return of the mercenaries to Ukraine, the Colonel noted that the Wagner fighters are no longer considered dangerous and those who have returned are in a “bad mood” as they are fully aware of the challenges they will face in Ukraine.
Wagner’s mercenaries fought in Ukraine until May, capturing the war-hit town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Following internal unrest, including a failed uprising led by Prigozhin in June, many Wagner PMC fighters found themselves in Belarus or were sent to African countries. Tragically, Prigozhin died in a plane crash in August.
According to the Ukrainian National Resistance Centre, fewer than 1 000 Wagner PMC mercenaries were in Belarus in September. About 200 of them were reportedly working as instructors in special units of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Defence, while
the rest refused to be recruited.
The Wagner group’s Telegram channels have been silent on the situation in Ukraine, focusing instead on news from Belarus, Niger and Mali.
Read also: Lithuanian minister says number of Wagner PMC mercenaries in Belarus is going down