Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was exiled to Belarus on Saturday as part of a deal to put an end to his uprising against the Kremlin.
Despite the Wagner Group's failed coup's profoundly destabilising effects, a top British military official warned that hardened mercenaries may now strike Kyiv from Belarus, which might prevent Ukraine from winning its continuing war with Russia.
Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was exiled to Belarus yesterday as part of a deal to put an end to his uprising against the Kremlin.
Lord Dannatt, a former head of the UK General Staff, issued a dire warning that Kyiv would be in grave danger if Prigozhin had taken his soldiers to Belarus.
If you were in command in Kyiv, what would you be worried about?
Former chief of the general staff General Lord Richard Dannatt says Ukraine has "every reason" to continue their probing attacks along the Russian defence line. https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv
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“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," Lord Dannatt said.
“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 February 24 last year," he added.
“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," Dannatt noted.
'I don't think we've heard the last of Yevgeny Prigozhin'
Former senior British Army officer Lord Dannatt spoke to about the fate of the head of the Wagner mercenary group after events in Russia in the last 24 hourshttps://t.co/brkOoqUZ9Y pic.twitter.com/HKwwpKZo3Z
Wagner fighters were involved in the pact to put an end to the coup, though it is still unclear how many troops Prigozhin was able to take with him to Belarus.
After calling off the mutiny, Prigozhin said on Saturday, "In 24 hours we reached within 200km of Moscow. Over that time we didn't shed a single drop of our men's blood. Now though the time has come when blood might be shed. Therefore, mindful of the responsibility that Russian blood might be shed by one of the parties, we are turning our columns round and moving off in the opposite direction, to the field camps, according to plan."
Yevgeny Prigozhin has told his troops heading towards the Russian capital to turn back, saying he wants to avoid shedding Russian blood.
In an audio message, Prigozhin said his fighters would return to their bases.
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Before the peace agreement was achieved, after the uprising began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insulted Putin, saying, "Anyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself. Sends columns of soldiers to destroy the lives of another country - and cannot stop them from fleeing and betraying when life resists. He terrorizes with rockets, and when they are shot down, he humiliates himself to give 'Shaheda'."
"He despises people and throws hundreds of thousands into the war - in order to eventually barricade himself in the Moscow region from those whom he himself armed. For a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it. And all this is one person, who again and again scares the year 1917, although he is not able to lead to anything else," Zelenskyy added.
Also read: How Putin's reputation was punctured by Wagner mutiny
He declared that Russia is a weak and terrible state and promised to keep fighting. "Russia's weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later. This is also obvious," the Ukrainian president added.
"Ukraine is able to protect Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos.We keep our strength, unity and strength." Zelenskyy signed off by addressing his own military leaders, saying: "All our commanders, all our soldiers know what to do. Glory to Ukraine!"