Members of the Wagner private mercenary group stand guard in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia Photo: Stringer/Reuters
Wagner Ukraine said mercenaries came close to stealing nuclear weapons during last month's uprising in Russia.
Kirill Budanov, Ukraine's head of military intelligence, said that as Wagner fighter jets raced towards Moscow on 24 June, the group turned east of the M4 highway to raid the Voronezh-45 nuclear storage.
“The vault doors were closed and they didn't get into the technical area,” Mr. Budanov said.
According to Reuters, this heavily armed Wagner group repelled two attacks by Russian troops and reached Voronezh-45. In one of the battles, Wagner destroyed a Russian Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter, killing two of its pilots.
The downed military aircraft was reportedly shot by Wagner's mercenaries. Photo: Reuters
A Kremlin source confirmed this to Reuters, saying that Wagner's mercenaries “managed to infiltrate a zone of special interest, causing the Americans to become worried because nuclear weapons are stored there.”
However, US intelligence sources denied this. “We had no indication that nuclear weapons or materials were under threat,” said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Statements by Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budoanov are disputed by US intelligence sources. Photo: Valentin Ogirenko/Reuters
Western intelligence agencies have previously said they were concerned about the security of the Kremlin's nuclear arsenal as the fallout from Vladimir Putin's failed invasion of Ukraine would destabilize Russia.
Voronezh-45 is one of 12 nuclear storage sites in Russia. and is guarded by military unit No. 14254 of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for the security of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Russia has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Budanov, who is notoriously fond of taunting his Russian rivals, did not specifically talk about the nuclear weapons the Wagner mercenaries wanted to steal, but said they could fit in a backpack. “This is one of the key places to store these backpacks,” he said.
During the Cold War, both the US and the Soviet Union developed nuclear bombs designed to be carried by sabotage teams behind enemy lines to blow up strategic targets.< /p>
Mr. Budanov has previously stated without presenting evidence that Putin is seriously ill. Nuclear experts have said that even if Wagner forces succeed in capturing nuclear weapons, they will need special technical expertise to put them together and arm them.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner's leader, withdrew his forces 125 miles from Moscow. He has since stated that he never intended to take power from Vladimir Putin, his patron for over 25 years, and that the uprising was directed against the Russian Ministry of Defense, which he accused of incompetence.
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