Prigozhin is ready to send his fighters to defend Russia’s Belgorod 

The leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary group announced on Saturday that he was prepared to send fighters to the heavily shelled Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin shared the statement on Telegram:

“If the defence ministry, in the near future, does not stop what is happening in the Belgorod region … then of course we will come to defend Russian land. The civilian population is dying in Belgorod,” he was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

He stated that he would send his soldiers there without waiting for an "invitation".

His words come as Russian rebel groups claimed to be still engaged in combat inside the Belgorod region.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, reported that the area had been subjected to 500 strikes on Friday, including artillery and rocket fire.

Five people, he claimed, were killed in the shelling. The most devastated town is Shebekino, where hundreds of people have left.