month full but the us department of defence believes the russian paramilitary group is no longer participating in any significant capacity in combat in ukraine, despite still being present in russian occupied areas in the donbas region. i am joined russian occupied areas in the donbas region. iamjoined now russian occupied areas in the donbas region. i am joined now by military x dilemma expert, retired colonel who served 30 years with the us marine corps. he also worked extensively with nato in europe. brendan, what you make of this assertion by the us department of defence that wagner is no longer active in ukraine? i’m defence that wagner is no longer active in ukraine? active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nan , active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nancy. to active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nancy. to be active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nancy, to be honest active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nancy, to be honest with - active in ukraine? i m sceptical, nancy, to be honest with you.
turned back on and anticipate hostilities again probably with just a couple of hours notice. but it hostilities again probably with “ust a couple of hours notice. a couple of hours notice. but it is very difficult. a couple of hours notice. but it is very difficult, isn t a couple of hours notice. but it is very difficult, isn t it, a couple of hours notice. but it is very difficult, isn t it, to - a couple of hours notice. but it is very difficult, isn t it, to know - very difficult, isn t it, to know exactly what does happen inside the russian military? it is extraordinarily - russian military? it is| extraordinarily difficult russian military? it is- extraordinarily difficult to russian military? it 3 extraordinarily difficult to find out what is going on in russia, let alone the military itself. and then of course the ukrainians have practised a wonderful degree of operational security. when they want media attention, they carefully choreographed that media attention. the
russian military and its operations in ukraine? ~ ~ russian military and its operations in ukraine? in ukraine? well, i think in many resects in ukraine? well, i think in many respects it in ukraine? well, i think in many respects it simplifies in ukraine? well, i think in many respects it simplifies the - respects it simplifies the operations of the russian military because what they can do is they can focus on solving the logistics, the commander control, a myriad of long term issues that they have been facing that were exacerbated by having to supply and coordinate with wagner. that was really a tough job to be it would be for any military, even including military is like the british and american. if you suddenly put in a mercenary army that you are supposed to coordinate with and supply, that becomes tough. who is the priority? and of course we know from wagner s leaders optionally constantly said that he was not a priority with the russian military so it simplifies issue for
ron, stay with us, we will be coming back to you. you are watching the context here on bbc news. as brendan did say there, it is a very complicated, murky picture what is happening in russia with the wagner group but of course as usual we follow every twist and turn for you here on bbc news. more to come. stay with us here on the context. hello there. plants in the garden are starting to look very healthy these days. unfortunately, we can t go out and enjoy it because there s been quite a lot of rain around, hasn t there? so it s like this throughout friday afternoon with some significant puddles on the roads. now, this area of low pressure is not only with us for the rest of the day, but also into the majority of saturday as well. it s been pushing heavy rain further north and east. it s also brought some blustery winds with it as well.
ambassador to japan, when i came, in i immediately reworked my non-evacuation plan. neo plans. quarter of millions of americans any given day response sickle to identify, process and flow away from danger. here, we are talking about in sudan roughly 16,000 americans. that s what we know of. again, the state department doesn t have a full grasp of who is on the ground. still, a large number of americans. 16,000 plus, i would say. that we need to be in a position to understand where they are to be able to protect them. right now all they have been told is that they need to shelter in place. this is a grave concern. you have got wagner group involved here. wagner group came in and destroyed syria. you see what they are doing in ukraine. now they have moved into sudan. we have moved out clearly. you think about the opportunity that we had with the abraham accords being signed in january of 2021. sudan was one of the greatest opportunity spaces for us to improve relations in the middle east