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The leader of the Wagner mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin on the evening of Friday 23 June he accused the Russian army of having attacked the military camps of its militiamen, killing an “enormous” number of fighters. According to Prigozhin, the attacks were ordered by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “They carried out attacks, rocket attacks, on our rear camps. A very large number of our fighters were killed,” Prigozhin said in an audio message broadcast by his press service, promising to “respond” to these bombings.
The former “Putin’s cook” now on a collision course with him then said that his paramilitary group would carry out “a march for justice” as far as Moscow, denying that it wanted to plot a coup d’état. Prigozhin then announced who intends to “stop” the military leaders of Moscow and has invited the Russians not to resist his forces.
The raid on Rostov
Later in the night between Friday and Saturday he announced that his men were in Rostov-on-Don and preparing to march on Moscow. His troops, he warned, are ready to “destroy anything” that gets in their way. “We are moving forward and will go to the end,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin, specifying that he shot down a regular forces helicopter in Moscow.
The leader of the Wagner paramilitary group said he arrived in the early hours of this morning at the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov, a key center for the Russian assault on Ukraine, and took control of military sites, including a airport. “We are at the headquarters, it is 07:30” (6.30 in Italy ed), he said in a video broadcast on Telegram, “the military sites of Rostov are under control, including the airport”, he adds, while behind him they see men in uniform walking.
On the way to Moscow
His troops, he threatened, are ready to march on Moscow if Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov do not agree to meet him. “We have arrived here, we want to see the Chief of Staff and Shoigu. If they don’t come, we will blockade the city of Rostov and head towards Moscow,” he said.