Kadyrov’s units suddenly withdraw from Maryinka, Ukrainian military says

Units under the control of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov suddenly withdrew from Maryinka, Donetsk Oblast late on June 24, press officer of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade Yaroslav Chepurnyi said on Ukrainian national television on June 25.

Read also: Ukrainian army confirms liberation of territories in Donetsk Oblast occupied since 2014

"Last night, Chechen (leader Kadyrov's) units, fighting against us in Maryinka, suddenly withdrew and started to leave Maryinka," Chepurnyi said.

Chepurnyi said that aerial reconnaissance had spotted the withdrawal, and the enemy was attacked — one Russian armored personnel carrier was hit.

"The Akhmat-Vostok regiment, which was fighting here, and the special forces withdrew and went somewhere in full force," the officer added.

Earlier, a source close to the Russian General Staff claimed that the Russian army was gathering "all the units not employed at the front," including Kadyrov's men, to "block (the leader of the Wagner mercenary company Yevgeny) Prigozhin's passage to Moscow."

Read also: Kadyrov sides with Putin amid Prigozhin's rebellion

Kadyrov, the Kremlin’s puppet leader in Chechnya, claimed that his military units had been sent to Rostov Oblast to "suppress the rebellion" of Wagner's militants.

Prigozhin announced his march on Moscow and the beginning of an armed conflict with the Russian Defense Ministry on the evening of June 23, allegedly after the Russian army struck the mercenaries' "rear camp."

However, on the evening of June 24, the leader of Wagner mercenary company announced that he was "turning back the columns" that, according to him, had not come closer than 200 kilometers to Moscow, because his fighters allegedly did not want to "shed Russian blood."

The press service of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko at the same time claimed that Lukashenko had been negotiating with Prigozhin all day, and that the Wagner warlord agreed to "stop movement through the territory of Russia," and his militants were promised "security guarantees" in return.

The Kremlin said that the case of Prigozhin's armed rebellion would be closed, the Wagner units would return to the "rear camps," and Prigozhin himself would go to Belarus.

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