CNN just visited a site in Belarus where the country's president says Wagner fighters could
take up residence should they take up Belarus' offer to move to the country.
This comes after the surprise announcement that Wagner's military leader, yevgeny prigozhin,
is not in Belarus as previously believed.
The president of Belarus, lukashenko, revealed he was in Russia on Thursday.
This revelation contradicts the terms of that ceasefire brokered to end Wagner's rebellion
in Russia.
Our Matthew chance has the reporting.
>> Reporter: All right, you join me here in this military base in Belarus about an hour's
drive outside of the capital Minsk.
It's a vast tent city with all these enormous canvasses, which we're told can house about
5,000 people erected in the past few weeks.
There were satellite photographs of this place before and after,
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of this place before and after, and we all believed this is the location where Wagner
forces, the mercenaries from Russia, would be located if they came to Belarus.
That was part of a deal, remember, with the Belarusian leader inviting Wagner and its
leader to come into exile in Belarus as a way of defusing their military uprising in
Russia last month.
Well, at the moment, though, these tents are completely empty.
Have a look inside at one of these here.
Completely empty.
There's nobody in there.
It's too dark for us to show you inside.
It's just wooden platforms.
Nobody in there at the moment.
Ultimately it can house as many as 5,000 people.
The problem is, of course, the events of yesterday here with the revelations from Alexander lukashenko,
the Belarusian leader, that plan is no longer in operation.
It's on hold at the moment.
And at the moment yevgeny prigozhin, the Wagner leader, is
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prigozhin, the Wagner leader, is not here in Belarus.
He's said to be in Russia.
And not a single Wagner soldier has so far come here.
And so we don't know whether there is going to be a transfer of Wagner to Belarus or not
at the moment.
All we can tell you, it hasn't happened yet.
Back to you.
>> Matthew, thank you.
This just in, Ukraine says it has advanced more than a kilometer around bakhmut in the
past 24 hours as it continues to apply pressure on Russian forces in the area.
This comes as the U.S.
Is expected to take a controversial step in assisting Ukraine by sending cluster munitions
as participate of a new military aid package nato's chief Stoltenberg condemned the use
of cluster bombs last year.
Watch.
>> We have seen the use of cluster bombs.
We have seen reports of use of other types of weapons which will be in violation of
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will be in violation of international law.
>> Well, this is video of an alleged Russian cluster bomb attack in kharkiv, essentially
a projectile that rains down other smaller bomblets, more than 100 nations have banned
its use because of how devastating it can be to civilians.
Joining us now is retired U.S. Army major Mike Lyons.
Good to see you again.
First, what do you think?
Do you think this is a good idea and this is the right time to give these cluster munitions
to Ukraine?
>> It is a good idea, because they're not game changing but they're difference making.
The artillery much more effective on the ground.
Right now for military targets you have Russian troops that are dug in, vehicles that are
dug in.
If you look at a quick video, the same thing, artillery is called the king of battle for
a reason.
It will improve the effects on military targets.
What Russia does on civilians is different.
These are for military targets, Russian troops that are dug in.
What they'll end up doing is save Ukrainian crew lives.
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save Ukrainian crew lives.
Every artillery round has a reverse address, a return address.
This will allow our Ukrainian crews to move, shoot, communicate and get out quickly.
>> The administration has said that changing battlefield conditions over the last couple
of weeks are why they've made this decision.
You think that is an acknowledgement of, let's say, slow progress of the counter offensive?
>> Yes.
I think the administration has been results oriented all along, and we don't want to send
too much equipment that gets out in front if Ukraine starts losing that is it left on
the battlefield?
The counter offensive is going well if this is the objective, to find Russian forces where
they are, probe initial defenses, shoot artillery, save Ukrainian lives and still find that weak
place as to where it should be.
It's not a classic counter offensive.
It's not a blitzkrieg that's taking place.
We have to make sure also Ukrainian forces don't accumulate.
What that means is the Ukrainian forces get stopped and they're
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forces get stopped and they're not effective.
They are tripped and they run out of ammunition.
This will allow them to keep the counter offensive going.
>> What is your concern about the potential bomblets that are duds or that don't explode
immediately?
>> Well, so, the Ukrainian government recognizes this.
They're fighting for their survival and will fire them on their own ground.
They will know where the rounds have landed and when they've used them, and they're willing
to do that, willing to do it against an enemy that's invaded their land.
It will be against military targets.
You won't see them against targets like we saw before.
It's a risk the government and military is willing to take.
>> This new reporting that the Ukrainians say they have advanced a kilometer around
bakhmut, we've talked about bakhmut.
There's not much there left.
It's a symbolic victory.
What's a kilometer worth?
>> I don't want to diminish what they've done here.
They have to be attacking the Russian troops dug in around bakhmut, but this is that
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bakhmut, but this is that symbolic victory Russia has.
If they can use this to find out reports of about 120,000 more troops in the northern
area, if they can use this fight right now to determine whether that's true or not, then
they can determine whether they can reposition air forces or decide that this is where they
have to put their reserves in.