Ceasefire? Putin Preparing to ‘Send Thousands’ of Soldiers From Ukraine to New Target: Report

Russian President Vladimir Putin is allegedly planning to “send thousands” of troops from Ukraine to Africa, effectively abandoning the ongoing Ukraine invasion, according to the largest Telegram channel associated with Russia's Wagner mercenary group.

Since first invading Ukraine in early 2022, Russia has seen more than 250,000 troops killed, the Daily Star reported.

The Wagner group has been seen as Russia’s most feared unit when it came to helping Putin pick up some minor wins in the war, according to the Daily Star.

However, the group has also been fighting battles on behalf of other governments looking to the group to do their bidding, like the Central African Republic and Mali.

The Central African Republic was the last place ex-Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was seen alive before his plane exploded flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg in August 2023.

In a post on the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which was the first channel to confirm the death of Prigozhin, a spokesman said, “For several years, Yevgeny Prigozhin tried to convince different echelons of the Russian government that the 'African foothold' is a promising international direction, and in response he received only go-aheads, they say, 'it’s expensive, it’s impossible, and no one needs it.’”

They continued, “Then he just started doing it himself with a little help from those people in the government who still care, and those who consider Russian foreign activities not only as a way to earn money. A few years later, after Syria, Wagner won for itself a truly international name and fame, as well as the love of an entire region.”

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The spokesman concluded, “By chance and pure coincidence, Evgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry 'Wagner' Utkin die on the day when a representative of the Russian Defense Ministry visits the host countries of the Wagner Group in Africa, and, as they say, they are preparing to send their thousands of contingent there, even despite the fact that there is a terrible shortage of personnel at the front in the military clash with Ukraine.”

The source further asserts that Russian "bureaucracy" could potentially undermine the group's efforts in that region, a concern voiced by Prigozhin multiple times during his criticisms of the Kremlin throughout the Ukraine invasion, the Daily Star reported.