KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine will ask Belarus to extradite 28 people, including nine Ukrainian citizens, whom Kyiv suspects of participating in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, reported the Interfax Ukraine news agency on Friday citing Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s office.
Belarusian security forces detained more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries near Minsk on Wednesday after receiving information that more than 200 fighters had entered the country to destabilise it ahead of a presidential election.
State-run Belta news agency said the men worked for Wagner, Russia’s best-known private military contractor. A Belarusian security official said some of the detainees had spent time in the Donbass region of Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops have fought Russian-backed fighters in a conflict since 2014.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Matthias Williams and Alex Richardson)
