MINSK: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia, Belarus’s president said on Thursday, raising questions about the deal to end the mercenary leader’s mutiny last month.

Residents of the western Ukraine city of Lviv were meanwhile still reeling from a Russian missile strike early on Thursday that killed five and several injured.

Belarus leader Alexander Lukas­hen­ko mediated a deal to end Prigozhin’s revolt — the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule — that was to see the mercenary head into Belarusian exile.

“As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in Saint Petersburg... He is not in Belarus,” Lukashenko, who has ruled isolated Belarus for nearly three decades, told reporters from foreign media outlets in Minsk.

Kremlin says ‘not following’ Prigozhin’s movements; five dead in rare missile strike in western Ukraine

Lukashenko said he knew “for sure” that Prigozhin was free.

The Kremlin in response said it was “not following” Prigozhin’s movements, nearly two weeks after the June 23 mutiny that saw armed fighters march toward Moscow.

Lukashenko said that Wagner mercenaries have not established a base in Belarus yet, despite a Kremlin offer for attempted mutiny participants to relocate.

“At the moment the question of their transfer and set-up has not been decided,” Lukashenko said.

Images broadcast by Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin’s residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the grounds, reportedly on June 25.

The failed insurrection has called into question the future of Wagner, which has been accused by the West of destabilising volatile countries in the Middle East and Africa.

‘Vicious’ attack

Lukashenko’s comments came hours after what Lviv’s mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since the start of the Russian invasion last February.

While Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, the Lviv region in the west, hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines and near the Polish border, has largely been spared the aerial onslaughts.

The US embassy in Ukraine described the attack as “vicious” and said in a tweet that “Russia’s repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying.” Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile said that its long-range, precision strikes overnight had hit all the designated targets, in a statement that did not specifically mention Lviv.

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the missiles had struck a residential building and destroyed its upper floors.

At least five people were killed in the attack and another 37 were wounded, including a child, officials and the emergency services.

The attack came as President Volody­myr Zelensky, who vowed a tangible response to the strike, arrived for an official visit in Bulgaria, a major ammunition producer and supporter.

‘Ceiling started to fall’

Rescuers were working to reach those still trapped, and AFP footage showed emergency responders clearing rubble and wood from the gutted first floor of a building in Lviv.

Cars covered in dust and with their windows blown out lined a pavement piled with debris.

One elderly woman carried a caged bird away from the scene.

“I woke up from the first explosion, but we didn’t have time to leave the apartment,” Olya, 37, said.

“There was a second explosion, the ceiling started to fall, my mother was immediately hit,” she said.

“I got to the window, started screaming, and in about half an hour the rescuers got to me, took me out and took me to the 8th hospital,” Olya added.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2023