Putin orders former Wagner commander to take charge of 'volunteer units' in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered one of the top commanders of the Wagner military contractor to take charge of “volunteer units” fighting in Ukraine. The order signals the Kremlin’s effort to keep using the mercenaries after the death of their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin told Andrei Troshev that his task is to form volunteer units that could perform combat tasks, primarily in the war zone. The meeting appeared to reflect the Kremlin’s plan to redeploy some of Wagner mercenaries to the front line in Ukraine following their brief mutiny in June and Prigozhin’s suspicious death in a plane crash Aug. 23.