Russia returns troops deployed near Moscow during Wagner mutiny back to Ukraine — Ukraine’s MoD

Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Maliar, confirmed this.

"It seems that as the political crisis in Russia intensified, they gathered troops from the east and tried to move them to Moscow. However, since the situation there quickly calmed down, these troops are now returning to the east. This is what we observe," Maliar stated.

Earlier, Maliar mentioned that in the past week, the enemy suffered almost eight times more casualties than the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian forces also made progress of 1 to 2 kilometers in the eastern directions. Additionally, during the southern offensive, they managed to liberate an area of 130 square kilometers.

Prigozhin's mutiny in Russia

For several months, there has been a conflict between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier of Wagner PMC, and the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, the situation escalated quickly on the evening of June 23.

Allegedly, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Wagner base. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC, announced a "march of justice" and stated that 25,000 mercenaries were heading to Moscow after the Russian leadership refused to hand over Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

On Saturday, June 24, in addition to Rostov-on-Don, where they initially gathered around the headquarters of the Southern Military District, the Wagner group also took control of Voronezh. Their convoys, which had diverted from the Ukrainian border, were moving towards Moscow. Military aircraft and artillery under Shoigu's control attempted to stop them. The units of Wagner PMC were last spotted in the Lipetsk region. In Moscow itself, defensive positions were established, trenches were dug, and all security forces were mobilized.

However, on the evening of June 24, the press service of the self-proclaimed president of Belarus Lukashenko published a statement indicating that the head of the PMC Wagner was willing to halt the movement of the military columns and negotiate with the Kremlin. Allegedly, Prigozhin agreed to this during a conversation with Lukashenko. 

Instead, Prigozhin announced that the Wagner group had stopped their advance and returned to their field camps before reaching 200 km from Moscow. He stated, "In a day, we traveled without reaching 200 km to Moscow. During this time, no blood was shed. However, the moment may come when blood will be spilled. Therefore, taking full responsibility, we are turning our columns around and heading back to the field camps as planned."

Later, Prigozhin and his fighters left the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Russia. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin promised that Prigozhin would be allowed to go to Belarus, and Russia would drop the criminal charges against him.