Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia, Belarus's president said Thursday, raising questions about the deal to end the mercenary leader's mutiny last month.
Residents of the western Ukraine city of Lviv were meanwhile still reeling from a Russian missile strike early Thursday that killed five and injured dozens more.
Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko mediated a deal to end Prigozhin's revolt -- the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule -- that was to see the mercenary head into Belarusian exile.
"As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in Saint Petersburg... He is not in Belarus," Lukashenko, who has ruled isolated Belarus for nearly three decades, told reporters from foreign media outlets in Minsk.
Lukashenko said he knew "for sure" that Prigozhin was free.
The Kremlin in response said it was "not following" Prigozhin's movements, nearly two weeks after the June 23 mutiny that saw armed fighters march toward Moscow.
Lukashenko said that Wagner mercenaries have not established a base in Belarus yet, despite a Kremlin offer for attempted mutiny participants to relocate.
"At the moment the question of their transfer and set-up has not been decided," Lukashenko said.
Images broadcast by Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin's residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the grounds, reportedly on June 25.
The failed insurrection has called into question the future of Wagner, which has been accused by the West of destabilising volatile countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Lukashenko's comments came hours after what Lviv's mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since the start of the Russian invasion last February.
While Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, the Lviv region in the west, hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines and near the Polish border, has largely been spared the aerial onslaughts.
The US embassy in Ukraine described the attack as "vicious" and said in a tweet that "Russia's repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying."
Russia's defence ministry meanwhile said that its long-range, precision strikes overnight had hit all the designated targets, in a statement that did not specifically mention Lviv.
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the missiles had struck a residential building and destroyed its upper floors.
At least five people were killed in the attack and another 37 were wounded, including a child, officials and the emergency services.
The attack came as President Volodymyr Zelensky, who vowed a tangible response to the strike, arrived for an official visit in Bulgaria, a major ammunition producer and supporter.
Rescuers were working to reach those still trapped, and AFP footage showed emergency responders clearing rubble and wood from the gutted first floor of a building in Lviv.
Cars covered in dust and with their windows blown out lined a pavement piled with debris.
One elderly woman carried a caged bird away from the scene.
"I woke up from the first explosion, but we didn't have time to leave the apartment," Olya, 37, told AFP.
"There was a second explosion, the ceiling started to fall, my mother was immediately hit," she said.
"I got to the window, started screaming, and in about half an hour the rescuers got to me, took me out and took me to the 8th hospital," Olya added.
"I came back and found out that my mother had died, my neighbours had died. At this point, it seems that I was the only one who survived from the fourth floor. It's a miracle."
More than 50 apartments were "ruined" and a dormitory at Lviv Polytechnic University was damaged, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted on Telegram.
An office building had been damaged and a school building had been destroyed, he said, later announcing two official days of mourning.
Zelensky said on social media that "Russian terrorists" were responsible for the destruction, adding: "There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one."
Ukraine has recently bolstered its air defence systems with Western-supplied weapons and the number of Russian missiles and drones breaking through has diminished.
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv's planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defences in occupied areas, Zelensky said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday.
Zelensky is due to visit Istanbul on Friday for talks with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an important broker in the conflict, Turkish media reported.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia, Belarus's president said Thursday, raising questions about the deal to end the mercenary leader's mutiny last month.
Residents of the western Ukraine city of Lviv were meanwhile still reeling from a Russian missile strike early Thursday that killed five and injured dozens more.
Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko mediated a deal to end Prigozhin's revolt -- the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule -- that was to see the mercenary head into Belarusian exile.
"As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in Saint Petersburg... He is not in Belarus," Lukashenko, who has ruled isolated Belarus for nearly three decades, told reporters from foreign media outlets in Minsk.
Lukashenko said he knew "for sure" that Prigozhin was free.
The Kremlin in response said it was "not following" Prigozhin's movements, nearly two weeks after the June 23 mutiny that saw armed fighters march toward Moscow.
Lukashenko said that Wagner mercenaries have not established a base in Belarus yet, despite a Kremlin offer for attempted mutiny participants to relocate.
"At the moment the question of their transfer and set-up has not been decided," Lukashenko said.
Images broadcast by Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin's residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the grounds, reportedly on June 25.
The failed insurrection has called into question the future of Wagner, which has been accused by the West of destabilising volatile countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Lukashenko's comments came hours after what Lviv's mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since the start of the Russian invasion last February.
While Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, the Lviv region in the west, hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines and near the Polish border, has largely been spared the aerial onslaughts.
The US embassy in Ukraine described the attack as "vicious" and said in a tweet that "Russia's repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying."
Russia's defence ministry meanwhile said that its long-range, precision strikes overnight had hit all the designated targets, in a statement that did not specifically mention Lviv.
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the missiles had struck a residential building and destroyed its upper floors.
At least five people were killed in the attack and another 37 were wounded, including a child, officials and the emergency services.
The attack came as President Volodymyr Zelensky, who vowed a tangible response to the strike, arrived for an official visit in Bulgaria, a major ammunition producer and supporter.
Rescuers were working to reach those still trapped, and AFP footage showed emergency responders clearing rubble and wood from the gutted first floor of a building in Lviv.
Cars covered in dust and with their windows blown out lined a pavement piled with debris.
One elderly woman carried a caged bird away from the scene.
"I woke up from the first explosion, but we didn't have time to leave the apartment," Olya, 37, told AFP.
"There was a second explosion, the ceiling started to fall, my mother was immediately hit," she said.
"I got to the window, started screaming, and in about half an hour the rescuers got to me, took me out and took me to the 8th hospital," Olya added.
"I came back and found out that my mother had died, my neighbours had died. At this point, it seems that I was the only one who survived from the fourth floor. It's a miracle."
More than 50 apartments were "ruined" and a dormitory at Lviv Polytechnic University was damaged, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted on Telegram.
An office building had been damaged and a school building had been destroyed, he said, later announcing two official days of mourning.
Zelensky said on social media that "Russian terrorists" were responsible for the destruction, adding: "There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one."
Ukraine has recently bolstered its air defence systems with Western-supplied weapons and the number of Russian missiles and drones breaking through has diminished.
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv's planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defences in occupied areas, Zelensky said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday.
Zelensky is due to visit Istanbul on Friday for talks with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an important broker in the conflict, Turkish media reported.