Wagner chief offered to sell out locations of Russian troops to Ukraine - report

The leaked U.S. intelligence documents indicate that the leader of the notorious mercenary Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin offered Ukraine to disclose locations of Russian troops in exchange for Kyiv backing from the front lines in the town of Bakhmut, where his forces were suffering heavy losses, a report said on Sunday.   

According to the materials obtained by the Washington Post, Prigozhin met with unnamed Ukrainian officials in January and made his offer, which was rejected. Two sources confirmed to the Post that Prigozhin contacted Ukrainian intelligence officers several times. His attempts to sell out locations of the Russian army were also numerous, according to one source, but the Ukrainian leadership remained skeptical of his intentions. 

Last week, Prigozhin, who has been publicly criticizing Russia’s Defense Ministry for the lack of supplies and even suggested President Vladimir Putin should end the war, threatened to pull out his troops from Bakhmut if the ammunition is not provided immediately. His emotional statements came amid Ukraine’s reports about advances in the area.

However, Prigozhin on Monday dismissed the report about his contacts with Ukrainian officials. In an audio message posted by his press service on Telegram, the Wagner chief called the allegations "nonsense." He also suggested that unnamed residents of Moscow's Rublyovka suburb, home to many of the business and political elite, were behind the public campaign against him.

Prigozhin also denied having met Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence. Reports had earlier suggested the two met in an unnamed African country, but the Wagner chief argued that he had not been in the continent since the start of the Ukraine war and called the idea of a phone call with him "laughable."