live blog
According to the Russian news agency RIA, it is quiet in Rostov after the Wagner troops left. According to authorities, a man was killed by Russian artillery fire in Cherson, southern Ukraine. All developments in the live blog.
12:41 p.m
Röttgen: Putin is weakened
The CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen sees the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin severely damaged by the power struggle with the Wagner mercenary group.
“These one and a half days dealt a serious blow to Putin’s authority,” he said in an interview with the “Rheinische Post” and “General-anzeiger”. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozchin was “Putin’s man” – the coup attempt was “Putin’s failure”.
12:11 p.m
Chechens leave Rostov region
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Chechen fighters from the Achmat group have left the Rostov region again. They are said to have been transferred there to fend off an advance by the Wagner mercenary group.
The Achmat group will now return to Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense had contractually integrated the Achmat fighters of Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.
10:55 a.m
Apparently quiet location in Rostov
It was quiet in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday morning after the Wagner troops left, the Russian state news agency RIA reported. On their video via Telegram, a man was sweeping the street and cars were driving through the city. On Saturday, pictures of the Wagner troops in battle tanks dominated the scene in various parts of the city.
10:54 a.m
Governor: One dead in Kherson from Russian shelling
According to local authorities, a man was killed by Russian artillery fire in Cherson, southern Ukraine. “One of the projectiles exploded in the middle of the room,” provincial governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the short message platform Telegram. A woman was buried under the rubble, but alive.
10:42 a.m
Security measures in Moscow, apparently, remain in force
The “anti-terrorist measures” introduced in Moscow and the region because of the uprising of the Wagner mercenary group remained in force on Sunday. As an AFP reporter observed, large police patrols continued to be deployed along a main road leading south from Moscow, where the Rostov rebellion began. In the Moscow region, traffic restrictions on the highway between Moscow and Rostov in the south-west of the country remained in place on Sunday, according to the Avtodor authority responsible for the highways.
10:25 a.m
Russia expert: “It’s definitely the end of the Wagner Group”
Leslie Schübel, Russia expert from the Körber Foundation, in an interview daily news 24 on the Wagner group uprising and sudden withdrawal and how shattered Russian President Vladimir Putin is after this action.
9:31 a.m
London: Ukraine is making ‘gradual but steady progress’
According to information from British intelligence services, the Ukrainian armed forces have made “gradual but steady tactical progress” during their offensive. The British Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday in London that the units had regrouped in the past few days and conducted major offensive operations on three main axes in the east and south of the country. For their part, Russian forces had made “considerable efforts” for an attack near the city of Kreminna in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.
The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the start of the Russian war of aggression 16 months ago. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.
7:51 a.m
ISW: Uprising shows weaknesses in Russian system
The agreement with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is only a short-term solution, write Experts from the US research institute ISW. The uprising revealed “great weaknesses” in the structure of the Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin.
The rapid advance of the Wagner fighters showed other Russian actors how influential private military companies can be. In addition, it has become obvious how thin the Russian army is, whose forces are very heavily tied up in Ukraine.
The ISW has published daily analyzes of the situation since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression.
6:57 a.m
But still restrictions in road traffic
According to the Russian national road authority, restrictions on road traffic are still in place. This applies to the M-4 highway in the Moscow and Tula region.
The M-4 connects Rostov-on-Don in the south of the country with the capital Moscow. This highway had been used yesterday by the Wagner mercenaries.
06:34 a.m
Roadblocks lifted in Russia
Citing the local road traffic authority, the Russian news agency Tass reports the end of all motorway closures.
On Saturday, among other things, the M-4 motorway leading from the south to Moscow was closed because of the military convoy of the Wagner group.
5:27 a.m
US intelligence services had indications of a planned uprising
According to media reports, US secret services have long had indications of plans by the Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that he is preparing an uprising. The Washington Post and the New York Times reported that intelligence officials informed representatives of the White House, the Defense Department and Congress about the possibility of unrest in Russia the day before the uprising began.
According to the Washington Post, the intelligence services had the first indications of planned action by Prigozchin and his mercenary group Wagner against the military leadership by the middle of the month. In the middle of the week, the clues became so thick that there were a series of secret service briefings in Washington, according to the New York Times.
According to the Washington Post, US intelligence officials assume that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was informed of the planned rebellion at least a day before the uprising began.
4:44 a.m
Ukraine: Area west of Donetsk liberated
According to Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the Ukrainian commander on the southern front, Ukrainian forces have liberated an area near Krasnogorovka, west of Russian-held central Donetsk. According to the commander, the area had previously been under Russian control since Moscow-backed separatists seized it in 2014.
Also, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, the Ukrainian army launched an offensive near a group of villages around Bakhmut. A Russian statement is not available.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
3:14 a.m
Monday remains “free of work” in Moscow
Even after the power struggle has been averted, Monday in Moscow will remain a day off in the Russian capital, as announced. A spokeswoman for Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed to the Ria-Novosti agency that the decision he had made still stands.
In the first hours of the Wagner mercenaries’ uprising, Sobyanin had declared Monday a day off in Moscow for security reasons on Saturday morning and asked citizens to stay at home. Later, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his troops to withdraw to their camps. Prigozhin himself will go to Belarus, the Kremlin announced.
12:19 a.m
Baerbock shortens South Africa trip
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is shortening her planned two-day trip to South Africa because of the power struggle in Russia. The minister had “postponed her planned departure for South Africa by one day in order to attend a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday morning in view of the latest developments in Russia,” said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
12:15 a.m
War in Ukraine to continue
After the armed uprising of the mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Russian military leadership, the Kremlin sees no influence on the progress of the war against Ukraine. The situation will not affect the course of the “special military operation” against Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax.
Peskov also said he was not aware of any changes in President Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
As head of Russia’s private army, Wagner had accused Prigozhin of Minister Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov of incompetence and blamed them for the many defeats in the war. He kept saying that the war with the minister and Gerasimov could not be won. Prigozhin also lamented corruption, bureaucracy, fraud and theft in the Russian armed forces led by the two.
12:12 a.m
Israel: Developments “internal affair” of Russia
Developments in Russia are an internal matter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office. “Although this is an internal Russian matter in which Israel is not involved, Israel will continue to monitor developments closely,” said the statement, released after Netanyahu’s talks with diplomatic and security officials.
12:12 a.m
3,000 Chechen soldiers were apparently ready in Moscow
According to a state media report, 3,000 Chechen fighters took up positions in the Russian capital in the morning to defend Moscow. They were ready to carry out any order from President Vladimir Putin, reports the state Chechen TV station Grozny.
12:12 a.m
Wagner fighters leave Rostov-on-Don
The Wagner Group fighters have left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and are on their way back to their camps. This is announced by the governor of the region.
A video had previously been published via Telegram by the Russian state news agency RIA, which was supposed to show the departure of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in an SUV.
12:03 a.m
The live blog from Saturday to read