According to leaked intelligence documents, Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin offered to sell Russian troop locations to Ukrainian officials in exchange for battlefield mercy, escalating his public feud with Vladimir Putin over his for-hire army.
The Washington Post reported that 21-year-old Massachusetts National Guard airman Jack Teixeira shared US military intelligence documents on a Discord server, including a briefing on Prigozhin’s January meeting with unnamed Ukrainian officials, where the Wagner leader made his desperate offer.
In return for Ukrainians withdrawing from Bakhmut, where Wagner mercenaries had suffered terrible casualties due to Putin’s lack of assistance and supplies, Prigozhin would give Russian force positions and watch as Ukraine struck.
According to Insider, some released papers have been modified, but two unidentified Ukrainian officials told WaPo that Prigozhin had talked to Ukrainian intelligence operatives many times. One source said Prigozhin had offered Bakhmut many times, but Kyiv authorities were dubious of his goals.
WaPo said that the memo does not identify specific Russian army locations Prigozhin promised to provide, and US officials doubted Wagner’s motives. In recent weeks, many Russian military leaders have been slain near Bakhmut.
Prigozhin, who has increasingly blamed Putin for not providing enough munitions, threatened earlier this month to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, the site of one of the longest and deadliest clashes of the Russian invasion.
Russia used chemical weapons to incinerate the Ukrainian city hours after his declaration, Insider claimed.
The Pentagon, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, and the Russian Federation did not answer to Insider’s inquiries.
