MOSCOW, Russia
Russia has denied that an
aborted rebellion by Wagner mercenaries will affect their position in Ukraine
but in Kyiv they are seeing it as an opportunity to capitalize on the
disorder. Wagner troops have returned to their bases after briefly seizing control of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
It remains to be seen whether
Ukraine can take advantage with Russia's defense ministry saying on Sunday it
had repelled attacks on the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian news
agencies reported.
It is also being claimed by
RIA state news agency that the situation around the headquarters of Russia's
Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don was calm and street traffic resumed
after Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries left the city.
But there will be plenty of
speculation on what impact on morale there will be from the Wagner rebellion
and the apparent ease at which they were able to head towards Moscow.
Late on Saturday, Prigozhin, a
founder of the Wagner army, said he was halting his "march for
justice" on Moscow after a deal that spared him and his mercenaries from
facing criminal charges. The deal also exiled Prigozhin to Belarus.
"Today the world saw that
the masters of Russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Just complete
chaos," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address,
urging Ukraine's allies to use the moment and send more weapons to Kyiv.
Wagner troops have returned to
their bases after briefly seizing control of the Russian city of
Rostov-on-Don./Reuters
But at the same time the much
talked about Ukrainian offensive has failed to make the inroads that they were
hoping for.
And the death toll from a
Russian air attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Saturday has now risen to
five, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The Prigozhin unrest, the
biggest internal challenge to President Vladimir Putin as Russia's paramount
leader for 23 years, has spurred global security concerns.
"Any chaos behind the enemy lines works in our interests," State-run Ukrinform news agency quoted Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as saying.
Putin called Prigozhin's
actions a "blow to Russia", but there were no immediate signs his
rule was threatened. The defense ministry, under the helm of Putin's loyal ally
Sergei Shoigu, remained silent throughout the weekend's events.
Kuleba said it was too early
to speak of consequences for Ukraine, but later in the day he held a call with
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the events and Kyiv's
counteroffensive efforts.
The U.S. State Department said
in a statement afterwards that Washington will stay "in close
cooperation" with Kyiv as the situation develops.
Ukraine's military reported on
Saturday an offensive near villages ringing Bakhmut, which was taken by Wagner
forces in May after months of fighting. Kyiv also claimed the liberation of
Krasnohorivka village in Donetsk, but gains were incremental.
The counteroffensive has been
in general "slower than desired", Zelenskyy said recently.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of
Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said on Saturday there was no
immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from the frontline to Moscow.
"They ... all remain in
their places. They continue their resistance," Ukrainian state media
quoted Danilov as saying.
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