Zelenskiy aide claims Ukrainian counteroffensive intensified internal divisions between Moscow and paramilitaries
Glued to their mobile phones, millions of Ukrainians spent a sleepless night on Friday, after the head of the Wagner mercenary group declared war against his rivals in the Russian military, sparking unprecedented political turmoil in Moscow.
“Events are developing according to the scenario we talked about all last year,’’ said Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “The start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive finally destabilised the Russian elites, intensifying the internal split that arose after the defeat in Ukraine. Today we are actually witnessing the beginning of a civil war.’’
Early on Saturday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accused Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, of “treason” after the warlord launched an uprising against Russia’s army.
In audio clips released late on Friday, Prigozhin claimed that a Russian rocket attack had killed scores of his fighters, vowing to take “revenge” and “stop the evil brought by the military leadership of the country”.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has craved internal instability in Russia as a result of the conflict.
