The head of the Wagner Group would have offered kyiv to reveal Russian positions in Ukraine, according to a leak

The documents point to contacts between Prigozhin and the Ukrainian intelligence services, according to ‘The Washington Post’

May 15. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeni Prigozhin, would have offered to the Ukrainian authorities to reveal the position of Russian troops participating in the invasion of the country, according to leaked US intelligence documents collected by the US newspaper ‘The Washington Post’.

Prigozhin, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been at the center of a public dispute with the government over the offensive around the city of Bakhmut (east) and has even threatened to withdraw his mercenaries if the authorities do not give him permission. They delivered enough ammunition to maintain operations.

The documents, leaked through Discord, show that Prigozhin would have made the offer at the end of January, amid heavy casualties in the ranks of the Wagner Group. Thus, he contacted the Ukrainian military intelligence services (HUR) to convey that, if kyiv withdrew its forces from Bakhmut, he would give Kiev information on the position of Russian troops, without further details.

Official Ukrainian sources contacted by ‘The Washington Post’ have indicated that the head of the Wagner Group has spoken on several occasions with the country’s military intelligence services and even one of these sources has stressed that Prigozhin made the offer on Bakhmut on more than one occasion. occasion, although Kiev rejected it because they did not trust him.

Along these lines, US sources have acknowledged that Washington has similar doubts about Prigozhin’s intentions, while the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski, refused during a recent interview with this US media outlet to confirm whether there were contacts with the head of the Wagner Group, a key player. in the invasion of the country, launched in February 2022 on Putin’s orders.

According to ‘The Washington Post’, another of the documents indicates that Prigozhin has maintained contacts with Ukrainian Intelligence that go beyond telephone calls and even include face-to-face meetings with Ukrainian officials in a country in Africa. The Wagner Group has deployed mercenaries in several countries on the continent.

Thus, the documents suggest that Prigozhin would have transferred Russia’s problems with the ammunition supply to the Ukrainian intelligence services and recommended that Kiev launch an offensive on the border with the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Separately, other leaked documents reveal private discussions between Russian Defense Ministry officials about how to respond to Prigozhin’s criticisms of the situation at the front and his calls for more resources, while acknowledging that they were not complaints. unfounded, in the context of an apparent power struggle between him and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The Kremlin has not yet ruled on this information, while the Ukrainian authorities consider that Moscow is aware of these contacts. One of the documents highlights that the head of Ukraine’s intelligence services, Kirilo Budanov, “hopes that the Russians will use the details of Prigozhin’s secret conversations with the HUR and his meetings with officials in Africa to present him as a Ukrainian agent.” .

For its part, the Prigozhin press service has published an audio message from the head of the Wagner Group in which he pronounces on the information. “Of course I can confirm this information. We have nothing to hide from foreign special services. Budanov and I are still in Africa,” he ironized, although he has not ruled on the possible offer to reveal Russian positions in eastern Ukraine. .