Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion

Meduza’s interactive map shows how far Wagner Group got during its advance on Moscow

Over the course of a little more than 24 hours, Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that Wagner Group would leave its positions on the front in Ukraine and head toward Moscow on a “justice march.” Within hours, Wagner fighters had crossed into Russia and occupied the city of Rostov-on-Don, facing no opposition. After reportedly shooting down several Russian helicopters and an airplane, and coming within a few hundred miles of Moscow, Prigozhin announced that his convoys would turn around and retreat to their field camps. Here’s an interactive map of how far the “justice march” got and the convoy’s encounters with the Russian military on their way to Moscow.

This interactive map documents events related to Wagner Group’s movement from the front in Ukraine toward Moscow. We only include photos and video footage whose geolocation markers can be unambiguously established. Meduza is careful in working with this data, but mistakes are still possible, especially when we’re working in “the fog of war.” If you spot one, please let us know by sending an email to reports@meduza.io. Thank you!

Several large groups (their exact numbers are unknown) from the Wagner military cartel crossed the Ukraine-Russia border from Luhansk to the Rostov region in the evening of June 24. One of the groups, led by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, occupied the city of Rostov-on-Don on the morning of June 24, facing no resistance. Other groups with tanks, surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, armored vehicles, civilian trucks, and pickup trucks moved toward Voronezh. Prigozhin said the convoy’s ultimate goal was Moscow.

Around noon local time, Russian air force helicopters attacked the Wagner convoy as it passed Voronezh. The attack destroyed at least one truck (unclear whether it belonged to Wagner Group). Wagner returned fire and shot down one helicopter in a suburb of Voronezh. Reports emerged of two more downed helicopters, though only one was confirmed as destroyed. Wagner also shot down an Il-18 reconnaissance plane.

Two missiles, likely fired by Wagner’s air defense systems, struck Voronezh, damaging an oil depot and the courtyard of a housing complex.

You can see footage of these events, among others, on our interactive map.

The Wagner convoy did not attempt to occupy Russian cities, apart from Rostov. They may have seized several air bases, but did not prevent flights carrying out combat missions in Ukraine from taking off.

On June 24, Wagner convoys reached the Lipetsk region. One Wagner column turned east, toward the Ryazan region (around 400 kilometers or 250 miles from Moscow). The Russian authorities had excavators dig up highways on the Lipetsk-Ryazan border in an attempt to slow the Wagner convoy’s advance.

Russia’s Armed Forces and National Guard built defensive lines along the Oka river in the Tula and Moscow regions. All bridges across the river were blocked by trucks and buses and special forces were spotted in the area.

Late at night on June 24, Prigozhin announced that the convoys would turn around and head back to Wagner field camps at the front in Ukraine:

They wanted to dissolve Wagner Group. On June 23, we set off on our ‘march of justice.’ In the span of 24 hours, we got within 200 kilometers of Moscow. During that time, not a single drop of our fighters’ blood was shed. Now we’ve reached the moment where bloodshed is possible. So, understanding the full responsibility for the potential shedding of Russian blood from either side, we’re turning our columns around and heading back in the opposite direction towards our field camps, according to plan.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko reportedly negotiated Prigozhin’s decision to turn around.

As of the time of publication, Wagner fighters were withdrawing from Rostov.