"The current situation today was a rocket attack on us. After that the helicopters worked off. After that the artillery commands came from the Chief of General Staff to destroy the Wagner Cheka. After a meeting with Defense Minister Shoigu, where they made this decision to destroy the recalcitrant units, which are ready to defend their homeland, but their asses are not. At the moment we have crossed state borders in all places. Border guards were coming out to meet us and hugging our fighters. Now we are entering Rostov, a unit of the Ministry of Defense, or rather, the conscripts who were thrown to block our way, have stepped aside. We do not fight children, we do not kill children. Children are being killed. Shoigu throws untrained soldiers, including conscripts, into the war. He put 18-year-old boys against us, they are our children, they are all our grandchildren. So these guys will live and go back to their mothers. We only fight professionals. But if anyone gets in the way, we will destroy anything that gets in the way. We extend our hand to everyone. No need to spit in that hand. We move on. We go all the way. As for the statements about the arrests. This is brotherhood, this is justice, this is honor, this is conscience. That's what we have. And when you make statements, you don't have these feelings, you have destroyed these feelings. So you cannot understand anything but betrayal."
What an absolute insane rambling from Prigozjin, "We only fight professionals." and "throws untrained soldiers, including conscripts, into the war." This from the guy who used prisoners with 3 days of training, as meatwaves in Bakhmut.
Despite that, I hope he will cause a lot of trouble for Russia and Putin.
just saw this article on Moscow Times ( neutral, now in Amsterdam based news)
"Following speculation that he had de facto announced an armed revolt against Russia’s military, Prigozhin later added: “It is not a coup d’etat. It’s a march of justice. Our actions do not impede [regular Russian] soldiers at all.”
Whatever he said or meant, it's going to be chaos imo.
getting reports of heavy aircraft leaving rostov, this means they do not intend to hold the airport and are evacuating everything. thats a wagner win without a fight
❗️Prigozhin audio message 10:19AM BST - "no one will surrender to the demands of the President":
"Regarding the betrayal of the Motherland, the President is deeply mistaken. We’re patriots of our Motherland. We fought and we are fighting, all fighters of PMC Wagner. And no one is going to surrender to the demands of the President, FSB, or anyone else. Because we don’t want the country to live further in corruption lies, and bureaucracy.
When we fought in Africa, we were told that we needed Africa, and then they dumped it, because they stole all the money that was meant to come for help.
When we were told we are fighting with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that the ammo, weapons, all money put towards this were also being stolen, while officials are sitting and saving them for themselves for an incident that happened today, when someone is going towards Moscow."
Now they are not saving anything, they are striking us with planes and helicopters at the columns with civilians. And they hit civilians because they’re missing. And they hit anywhere they can.
Thus, we are the patriots, but those resisting us today are those who gathered around scumbags.
So any remaining conspiracy thoughts of this being orchestrated by Putin as an awkward "out" are clearly gone. Also, this will more clearly set up direct armed confrontation between Wagner and the Russian armed forces. It's probably not that hard to get some of the regulars riled up against Shoigu and the MoD, but now Wagner has to convince them to go against Putin.
Wagner affiliated channel: "All the generals who, with trembling hands, appeal to Wagner to stop, have actually signed their own sentence. There will be a tribunal. Surovikin will answer for the surrender of Kherson"
Belarussian soldiers, who are supporting Ukraine 🇺🇦, have called on Belarussian citizens to unite behind what is transpiring with Wagner, to liberate Belarus of Russia 🇷🇺.
On the Rostov-Moscow road in the area of Kozachi Tabory, the first clash occurred between the advanced groups of the "Wagner" PMC, moving towards Moscow, and the units of the "Rosgvardiya".
Footage of Prigozhin in Rostov, pictured with Deputy Minister of Defense, Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov (at left, from 0:13 on) — see the latter's official portrait photo for reference; looks like a match.
edit: and Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy chief of GRU military intelligence 1
Partial translation summary: Wagner issues orders to MoD commanders it has captured; will "blockade Rostov and go to [ed: towards?] Moscow until we get the Chief of the General Staff and Shoigu" 2, 3
Machine translation here. Highlight: Lt. Gen. Alekseyev tells Prigozhin, "the biggest thing that upsets me is... I hear there's a party in Kyiv. With champagne"
Rostov-based telegram channel says that the administration building, headquarters of the southern military districts and a police department (among other things) are cordoned off by unknown armed people in the city
Footage currently circulating right now reportedly showing Wagner vehicles moving south on the M4 towards Rostov. Traffic matches current google traffic data reports.
Telegram channel with apparent links to the Russian security forces reports that rarely-used security plan "Krepost" (Fortress), intended to repel an attack on security force installations in Moscow, has now been activated.
U.S. Officials have reportedly told CNN that they are “Closely Watching the Situation unfolding in Russia,” further stating that the Situation is very much Real.
I don't want to jump the gun, this could easily be Russian misinformation and logic dictates that I should treat it as such until we've got a hard confirmation, but PLEASE let this be real. Wagner and Russia engaging in infighting now would be absolutely perfect. I want the counteroffensive to have every edge it can get, and this would be one hell of an edge.
No evidence as to whether this is actually occurring, or just an information space PsyOp, but Prigozhin claims that Gerasimov "gave an order for planes to bomb moving Wagner columns", killing civilians, and that some pilots refused to obey orders.
More videos from the Southern Military District HQ. The Telegram channel says there are soldiers in the building and there are up to 300 Wagner fighters in Rostov. Some of the vehicles are military police.
Potentially corroborating this: photo purporting to show the smoke from a helicopter crash. Location indeterminate [edit: other sources say it's near Rostov]
Governor of the Rostov region says that "the current situation requires the maximum concentration of all forces to maintain order, adding that residents should not leave home unnecessarily - Mash
The FSB of the Russian Federation urged "not to make irreparable mistakes, to stop any force actions against the Russian people, not to carry out Prigozhin's criminal and treasonous orders, to take measures to arrest him"
Wagner PMC leader Prigozhin claims in a new post that "Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov gave the command to open fire from aircraft on Wagner columns mixed with civilian vehicles. The pilots refused to follow the order"
FSB Border Guards were ordered to allow the Wagner PMC columns through from Ukraine at the border check point in Rostov region, Russia. Prigozhin appears to have planned the coup meticulously and secured many allies at high places within the Kremlin regime.
I have to admit with great bitterness that the Russian Federation is one step closer to its final and irrevocable demise.
As of today, the Russian Federation has two presidents - the real president, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the acting president to serve his term. The main purpose of the acting president is to periodically address the real president, kneeling down, with the question: "What do you want, Yevgeny Viktorovich?"
Never, even in my worst nightmare, I couldn't imagine that I would see this shame and destruction of my country.
Right now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Therefore, understanding all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our convoy around and going back to our basecamps, according to the plan.
Does someone have a link to Prigozhin's actual outlets? All of this is pretty indirect and suspect as a result. (In the age of deepfakes, a recording means little with no provenance)
White House national security council says that they "are monitoring the situation in Russia and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments" - Reuters