Russia’s Wagner Chief Warns Defense Minister of Coming Ukrainian Attack

Ukrainian servicemen with a M113 armored personnel carrier drive in the town of Chasiv Yar as smoke rises from the direction of Bakhmut on March 20, 2023. (AFP)
Ukrainian servicemen with a M113 armored personnel carrier drive in the town of Chasiv Yar as smoke rises from the direction of Bakhmut on March 20, 2023. (AFP)
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Russia’s Wagner Chief Warns Defense Minister of Coming Ukrainian Attack

Ukrainian servicemen with a M113 armored personnel carrier drive in the town of Chasiv Yar as smoke rises from the direction of Bakhmut on March 20, 2023. (AFP)
Ukrainian servicemen with a M113 armored personnel carrier drive in the town of Chasiv Yar as smoke rises from the direction of Bakhmut on March 20, 2023. (AFP)

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a letter published on Monday that the Ukrainian army was planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his Wagner forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

In the letter published by his press service, Prigozhin said the "large-scale attack" was planned for late March or the start of April.

"I ask you to take all necessary measures to prevent the Wagner private military company being cut off from the main forces of the Russian army, which will lead to negative consequences for the special military operation," he said, employing the term that Moscow uses for its war in Ukraine.

It was the first time Prigozhin has published such correspondence with the defense minister, whom he has frequently criticized over the conduct of the war.

The unusual move appeared to have two possible aims: to confuse Ukraine commanders and to seek to pin blame on Shoigu, not Prigozhin, if the purported Ukrainian maneuver proved successful.

Prigozhin said he was providing details of the Ukrainian plan and of his own proposal to counter it in an attachment to the letter, which he did not make public. He did not say how he knew of Ukraine's intentions.

He said Wagner forces currently controlled 70% of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which they have been trying to capture since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.



Heavy Downpours in South Korea Kill 14 and 12 Others Missing

This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
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Heavy Downpours in South Korea Kill 14 and 12 Others Missing

This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)

Torrential rains that slammed South Korea for five days have left 14 people dead and 12 others missing, the government said Sunday.

One person was killed on Sunday after their house collapsed during heavy rain and another person was found dead after being swept by a swollen stream in Gapyeong, a town northeast of Seoul, the Interior and Safety Ministry said.

The ministry said eight people were discovered dead and six others were reported missing in the southern town of Sancheong on Saturday after heavy downpours caused landslides, house collapses and flash floods there.

A ministry report said that six people remain missing in Gapyeong and the southern city of Gwangju, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier last week, three people were found dead in a submerged car, and a person was also killed when their car was buried by soil and concrete after a retaining wall of an overpass collapsed in Osan, just south of Seoul, during heavy rain.

As of 9 a.m. on Sunday, about 3,840 people remain evacuated from their homes, the ministry report said. The rain stopped in most of South Korea on Sunday, and heavy rain alerts have been subsequently lifted throughout the country, ministry officials said.

Since Wednesday, southern regions have received about 600-800 millimeters (24-31 inches) of rain, according to the ministry report.