Russia says no change to Ukraine plans despite Wagner Group's 'mutiny'

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.