Kyiv said Wagner is building a new barracks with a capacity of 1,000 people in the Belarusian village bordering the Ukrainian province of Chernihiv.
“A new barracks for the forces of the private military corporation Wagner is being built in the Belarusian village of Zyabrovka, near the border with Ukraine,” the National Resistance Center of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced on August 9. newspaper.
The agency said Ukraine received the above information “from undercover agents”, describing the new barracks as tents with a capacity of about 1,000 troops. “Wagner plans to use this site to conduct disruptive activities in Chernihiv province,” the statement read.
Location village Zyabrovka, Belarus. Graphics: RYV
The Ukrainian side also accused Russia and Belarus of a “high probability” of using Wagner’s new barracks to threaten European neighbors, making them think “Wagner soldiers are ready to infiltrate the European Union (EU)”. This move is intended to make European countries reduce their support for Ukraine.
Belarus and Russia have not commented on the information. The village of Zyabrovka is located near the city of Gomel, in southeastern Belarus, about 40 km from the border with the Chernihiv province of Ukraine.
Wagner forces arrived in Belarus after an agreement brokered by President Alexander Lukashenko to end the June 24 rebellion. On August 1, Lukashenko said there are plans to establish a contract armed force in which Wagner members play a key role. Mr. Lukashenko said Belarus did not want to go to war but “must show the enemy that we can respond.”
Belarus on July 7, announced the barracks for Wagner forces at the former military base near Tsel, Osipovichi, with a capacity of about 5,000 soldiers. This location is about 90 km southeast of Minsk and 230 km north of the Belarus-Ukraine border.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on July 29 that Wagner soldiers had recently appeared in the area close to the border, saying the operation was “to destabilize the situation on the eastern flank of NATO”.
Morawiecki believes that Wagner soldiers can disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards to help immigrants enter Poland or impersonate immigrants to enter the country. The Polish prime minister also called Wagner “extremely dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Lukashenko said Poland “should pray for us to control and provide for Wagner. Otherwise, they will spill over to Rzeszow and Warsaw”. Rzeszow is a city in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, and Warsaw is the capital of the country.
