Ukraine latest: Wagner forces march toward Moscow, take helicopter fire

Ukraine latest: Wagner forces march toward Moscow, take helicopter fire
 

Putin vows to crush Wagner 'mutiny'

Tensions within Russia have taken a dramatic turn as Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner mercenary group, faces off with President Vladimir Putin.
 
Prigozhin said on Saturday that his group had taken control of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership.
 
Putin, in a televised address, vowed to crush Wagner's "armed mutiny," which he warned was an act of treason and a "stab in the back." 

Saturday, June 24

11:30 p.m. Russian mercenary fighters barrel towards Moscow, with Reuters reporting its journalists seeing troop carriers and a flatbed truck carrying a tank careening past the city of Voronezh more than half way to Moscow, where a helicopter fires on them.

However, there are no reports of the rebels meeting any substantial resistance on the highway.

Meanwhile, Russian media shows pictures of small groups of police manning machine gun positions on Moscow's southern outskirts. Authorities in the Lipetsk region south of the capital are telling residents to stay home.

11:00 p.m. Moscow offers Wagner fighters amnesty if they lay down their weapons but they need to act fast, the official Russian news agency Tass reports, citing a lawmaker. "Wagner fighters can still lay down their arms and avoid punishment given their achievements during the special military operation (in Ukraine), but they should do it fast," Pavel Krasheninniko is quoted as saying.

9:49 p.m. The Security Council of Belarus releases a statement saying the nation remains an ally of Russia and that internal disputes are "a gift to the collective West."

8:58 p.m. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin says his troops had not needed to fire a single shot when they took control of the headquarters of Russia's southern military district in Rostov.

In a new audio message released by his press service, he says his men had been fired on by artillery and helicopters en route to Rostov.

He says he thinks he has the support of the Russian people for what he calls his "march of justice."

7:35 p.m. A Wagner mercenary column of vehicles drove past the Russian city of Voronezh on Saturday afternoon, a Reuters witness says. One of the vehicles was a flatbed truck carrying a tank.

7:15 p.m. Mutinous Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says that he and his men will not turn themselves in on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. "The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it," Prigozhin says in an audio message. "Nobody is going to turn themselves in and confess at the order of the president, the FSB [security service] or anyone else. Because we don't want the country to continue to live any longer in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy."

 6:40 p.m. Germany's Foreign Ministry advises travelers to avoid the city of Rostov and the surrounding area, as well as Moscow city center, until further notice due to events taking place in Russia.

That follows various reactions in other European countries. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier said that the rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin shows Russia's invasion of Ukraine is backfiring against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Britain's Defence Ministry said that the Russian state was facing its greatest security challenge of recent times. "Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia's security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how this crisis plays out," Britain's defense ministry said in a regular intelligence update.

6:35 p.m. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev calls on Russians to rally around President Vladimir Putin amid a mutiny by the Wagner Group mercenary army, following similar calls by others including Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

6:10 p.m. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have met with Russia's Deputy Minister of Defense Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, at the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in this screen grab from a video released on Saturday and provided by Reuters.