The Belarusian defense ministry said on Thursday that its special forces are having training sessions with fighters from the Russian private military firm of the Wagner Group.

The ministry says the training ground is located in the country's southwestern region of Brest. Reuters news agency says it is only five kilometers from the border with Poland.

Photos released by the ministry show a Wagner fighter dressed in camouflage clothing looking at what appears to be a drone controller held by a Belarusian soldier and another operating a transmitter on an armored vehicle.

The ministry says the Belarusian military can learn from combat experience of Wagner fighters.

Belarus appears to be proceeding to accept Wagner fighters, who started to stage an armed rebellion against the Kremlin last month that was then aborted.

The Belarusian defense ministry last Friday released a video said to show Wagner fighters training Belarusian soldiers in a training ground located southeast of the capital Minsk.

On Wednesday, independent Russian media outlets reported a video of a man, supposedly Yevgeny Prigozhin, which was released on social media.

In the footage, the purported Wagner leader is seen saying he will train Belarusian forces to become the world's second-best military.

In response to Wagner's activities, Poland's defense minister said on July 8 that the country will move more than 1,000 troops to the east, which borders Belarus.