Global Courant
Members of the Wagner Group are preparing to depart from the headquarters of the Southern Military District and return to their base in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24, 2023.
Feodor Larin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Chaos in Russia is working in Kiev’s favor, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his army can capitalize on the disorder caused over the weekend as mercenaries marched on Moscow.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a founder of the Wagner army, said late Saturday he was stopping his “march for justice” on Moscow after a deal that saved him and his mercenaries from criminal charges. The deal also saw Prigozhin exiled to Belarus.
“Today the world saw that the masters of Russia have no control over anything. Nothing at all. Just complete chaos,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, urging Ukraine’s allies to seize the moment and send more weapons to Kiev.
The unrest in Prigozhin, the biggest internal challenge for President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s foremost leader in 23 years, has sparked global security concerns and sparked a wave of calls between Washington and its allies to coordinate action.
“Any chaos behind enemy lines is in our interest,” state news agency Ukrinform was quoted as saying by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday.
Putin called Prigozhin’s actions a “blow to Russia”, but there were no immediate signs that his rule was threatened. The defense ministry, headed by Putin’s staunch ally Sergei Shoigu, remained silent throughout the weekend.
Kuleba said it was too early to talk about the implications for Ukraine, but later in the day he called US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the events and Kiev’s counter-offensive efforts.
The US State Department said in a statement afterwards that Washington will continue to “work closely” with Kiev as the situation develops.
The Ukrainian army reported on Saturday an offensive near villages around Bakhmut, which was taken by Wagner forces in May after months of fighting. Kiev also claimed the liberation of the village of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk, but the gains were incremental.
The counteroffensive was generally “slower than desired,” Zelenskiy said recently.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Saturday there was no immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the frontline to Moscow.
“They … all remain in place. They continue their resistance,” Ukrainian state media quoted Danilov as saying.
