Yevgeny Prigozhin declares beginning of armed conflict against Russia's military leadership

The FSB initiated a criminal procedure against Prigozhin for sedition

The Wagner Group claims that Russian Defence Ministry units have carried out a missile strike on its mercenary camp. A statement followed soon, saying that an armed conflict with Russia’s military leadership was underway.

Many casualties are reported. “We will make a decision about how to respond to this atrocity, the ball is in our court,” Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

Soon, Prigozhin’s press service posted a statement by Wagner Group military commanders.

UPDATE
2:18 Moscow time

Yevgeny Prigozhin has issued a new statement.

"We have crossed the national border. Border guards were greeting us and hugged our fighters. Now we are entering Rostov[-on-Don]. The Defence Ministry is throwing mandatory conscripts at us, those are lads 18 years of age. They moved aside. We are not fighting against children.

We do not kill children, it is [Defence Minister] Shoigu who does so. He’s sending untrained lads against us, the boys are so young they might as well be our sons or even grandsons. These boys will be spared and will return to their mothers. We only fight against seasoned servicemen. If anybody gets in our way, we’re going to destroy all of them. We’ll go all the way," Prigozhin said in yet another voice message.

2:37 Moscow time

Yevgeny Prigozhin has issued one more statement:

“Moments ago, the head of the General Staff ordered that jets be used against our columns that move alongside civilian cars and trucks. He doesn’t care who to kill, they’ve been killing their own civilians for 1.5 years instead of fighting the opponent. I wish to thank the pilots who refused to obey these criminal orders.”

Yet again, none of Prigozhin’s claims can be proven by other sources.

“The council of the Wagner Group commanders has made the decision: the evil that the country’s military command is spreading should be stopped. They disregard the lives of soldiers, they have forgotten what the word ‘justice’ means, and we will reinstate it. Therefore, those who killed our guys today and dozens of thousands of Russian soldiers will be punished.”

“After we finish what we’ve started, we will return to the frontlines to defend our motherland. The presidential authority, the government, the Russian Interior Ministry, the Russian National Guard, and other structures will continue to work in the future. We will deal with those who are killing Russian soldiers and will be back,” Prigozhin said.

He recommended people not come outside in areas crossed by the Wagner Group’s route and vowed to return to the frontlines when the fighters “finish what they’ve started”.

In another message, Prigozhin said that Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu had fled Rostov-on-Don.

“Shoigu has just cowardly run away from Rostov-on-Don. At 10:00 PM, he ran, like a coward, like a woman. To not explain why he scrambled helicopters to kill our men, why he launched the missile strikes. This scumbag will be stopped,” he noted.

Moreover, Prigozhin called on the Russian army and the whole country to join the Wagner Group and “end this disaster”.

The Russian Defence Ministry has denied the report of striking the mercenary positions.

“All the messages spread online on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin about the alleged“ strike by the Russian Defence Ministry on ‘rear camps of the Wagner Group’ are not true and represent an informational provocation,” RIA Novosti quotes the agency as saying.

Novaya-Europe’s military observer Georgy Aleksandrov believes that the video showing the aftermath of the “attack” does not look credible. “There are no visible projectile funnels. There are no clearly visible fragments of bodies. There is no smoke around. The fires do not look like something caused by a missile strike,” he said.

At the same time, the location of the reported “strike” on the Wagner Group camp correlates with the videos shot earlier by Russian military blogger Alexander Smirnov, Bellingcat journalist Aric Toler writes.

Earlier today, Prigozhin published a 30-minute video to criticise Russia’s military leadership. According to him, the true intention behind the Ukraine war was not the “denazification” and “demilitarisation” of Ukraine but Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu’s desire to obtain the marshal rank and the second Hero of Russia award. Moreover, oligarchs “who practically rule Russia now” needed this war, Prigozhin said.

Vladimir Putin is aware of the situation with PMC Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin, says Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman of the Russian president. “All necessary measures are being taken,” he said.

Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti says the FSB has initiated a criminal procedure against PMC Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin for sedition.