Satellite images analyzed by DailyExpertNews this weekend showed increased activity at a military field camp in Belarus, including the arrival of vehicles similar to those belonging to the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
More than a dozen vehicles, including large civilian trucks, vans and cars, appear to have arrived Saturday and Sunday at a former military base in Asipovichy, about 55 miles southeast of Minsk, the capital. The vehicles are of the same type as those recently seen in large convoys, some with Wagner flags.
The whereabouts of the Wagner mercenaries have been something of a mystery since the group, which had been fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine, rose up against Russian President Vladimir V. Putin last month. To end the short-lived uprising, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus brokered a deal whereby the mercenaries would be given sanctuary in Belarus.
The satellite images do not conclusively prove that Wagner troops are in the camp, but support it statements by Ukraine’s allies say some Wagner troops have reached Belarus. Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that “at least a small contingent of Wagner fighters has arrived at a camp in Belarus,” though it did not specify the location of the camp. On Saturday, a Polish official said some Wagner fighters had arrived in Belarus.
After the Wagner mutiny ended, there was a flurry of activity at the former base at Asipovichy, and by the end of June there was a field camp with over 300 large military tents. But the camp had been largely empty for the past two weeks, making it unclear whether troops would move there.
The new images show a clear increase in activity. A satellite image from Sunday shows several trucks and possibly buses near the camp’s garages, which had previously been devoid of large vehicles.
Multiple pickup trucks, military vehicles and what appears to be a boxy Soviet-era minibus known as a bukhanka, as well as a small group of people, were also seen near the tents.
The first truck appeared in satellite images in the camp on Thursday afternoon. On Saturday, an image from geospatial intelligence firm BlackSky shows the arrival of more trucks and other vehicles. Additional vehicles arrived on Sunday.
Videos posted to Telegram on Saturday and Sunday of long queues of pickups, minivans and trucks seemed to indicate that Wagner troops were on their way. In one video, filmed on a highway south of the Russian city of Vorenzeh, vehicles waved Russian and Wagner flags. Another video showed two Belarusian police cars in a convoy, suggesting the vehicles were traveling within Belarus. The vehicles seen in the various videos appear to have license plates from Russia or Russian-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.
The videos show that there were multiple convoys on the road, each consisting of dozens of vehicles. By Sunday morning, despite multiple images from the base that day, the vast majority of those vehicles were not visible in the Asipovichy camp. It could not be determined whether any were in the camp’s garages.