The owner of the Wagner private military contractor who called for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister has confirmed in a video that he and his troops have reached Rostov-on-Don
The owner of the Wagner private military contractor who called for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister confirmed Saturday morning that he and his troops have reached a key Russian city after crossing the border from Ukraine.
Yeveny Prigozhin posted a video of himself in Rostov-on-Don at the Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine. He claimed that his forces had military facilities in the city under their control, including the air field. Other videos posted on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets outside.
Prigozhin said early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, adding that they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”
“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”
Russia’s security services had responded to Prigozhin’s declaration of an armed rebellion by calling for his arrest. In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took the threat, security was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don. It was not immediately clear how he was able to enter the southern Russian city or how many troops he had with him.
Prigozhin alleged that the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys, which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles.
