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I started reading about this late Friday night/early Saturday morning, and boy, has it been rapidly developing!
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary operation, has been critical of the way that Russia has been conducting the war in Ukraine. VERY critical especially of the head of Russian armed forces, Sergei Shoigu. Recently he's been very vocal about how the Russian military has not been providing his forces with the munitions that they need to continue their pace of operations.
Now, Russia is in a tight spot. They desperately need Prigozhin's mercenary forces because their native forces suck so badly. Meanwhile, insulting the Russian high command is a very bad no-no.
Things came to a head a couple of days ago when Russian artillery shelled a Wagner rear camp, killing a lot of Wagner troops. There is speculation that the shelling served two purposes: 'we don't want to pay' and 'stop mouthing off!' Prigozhin got pissed off and his forces took to the road. Towards Moscow. His stated claim was to remove Shoigu from command and presumably put in smart people.
This would be a good point to illustrate various involved party's military competencies. Shoigu was a supply chain officer before being elevated to command of all armed forces. And Prigozhin was known as "Putin's Caterer", a restauranteur who was very popular in Moscow circles. And let's not forget Putin himself who was a KGB thug in charge of Dresden when the USSR collapsed. He worked as a taxi driver to make ends meet until he wheedled his way into power.
Wagner mercenaries seized the city of Rostov-on-Don, which has some significance. First, it's a major city on the highway to Moscow. But more importantly, it's a military headquarters for the region AND a control center for the fighting in Ukraine! It's approximately 600 miles from Rostov to Moscow, and some Wagner forces continued their advance up the highway towards Moscow, capturing military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about half-way to Moscow.
Let's talk about mercenaries for a moment. People specifically paid to fight in war. Every country has signed treaties saying that they will not use them as an adjunct to their standing forces in battle. Of course Russia is ignoring this, as they ignore so many other treaties, such as the one that guaranteed Ukraine safety after they surrendered all of the nuclear weapons that they came into possession of after the fall of the USSR.
Putin made a televised speech decrying the rebellion, simultaneously praising Wagner mercenaries and never naming Prigozhin. Sounds a bit like the disappearing Commissars. Will we soon learn that Prigozhin was never the founder and head of Wagner, and it was actually someone else?
Wagner opened offices in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago. They were raided by police early today and over $40,000,000 (US equiv) cash was seized. Prighozin says that by charter he operates strictly on a cash-basis and that money was to pay the families of his people who are killed in combat. I'm sure the Russian government will return the money at their first opportunity.
The most recent and significant development is that the president of Belaruse, Lukashenko, held talks with Prighozin and convinced him to turn his troops around and stop his rebellion. So things are slowly calming down and we shall see how this resolves.
But what will happen in Ukraine? If Wagner pulled all, or a bulk, of their forces from Ukraine for this march, that is an amazing opportunity for the Ukraine military to literally make hay while the sun shines. With their opposition diminished, they have an excellent opportunity to exploit this situation.
This BBC link has live coverage, you can refresh it for the latest news on the situation:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-66006142
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary operation, has been critical of the way that Russia has been conducting the war in Ukraine. VERY critical especially of the head of Russian armed forces, Sergei Shoigu. Recently he's been very vocal about how the Russian military has not been providing his forces with the munitions that they need to continue their pace of operations.
Now, Russia is in a tight spot. They desperately need Prigozhin's mercenary forces because their native forces suck so badly. Meanwhile, insulting the Russian high command is a very bad no-no.
Things came to a head a couple of days ago when Russian artillery shelled a Wagner rear camp, killing a lot of Wagner troops. There is speculation that the shelling served two purposes: 'we don't want to pay' and 'stop mouthing off!' Prigozhin got pissed off and his forces took to the road. Towards Moscow. His stated claim was to remove Shoigu from command and presumably put in smart people.
This would be a good point to illustrate various involved party's military competencies. Shoigu was a supply chain officer before being elevated to command of all armed forces. And Prigozhin was known as "Putin's Caterer", a restauranteur who was very popular in Moscow circles. And let's not forget Putin himself who was a KGB thug in charge of Dresden when the USSR collapsed. He worked as a taxi driver to make ends meet until he wheedled his way into power.
Wagner mercenaries seized the city of Rostov-on-Don, which has some significance. First, it's a major city on the highway to Moscow. But more importantly, it's a military headquarters for the region AND a control center for the fighting in Ukraine! It's approximately 600 miles from Rostov to Moscow, and some Wagner forces continued their advance up the highway towards Moscow, capturing military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about half-way to Moscow.
Let's talk about mercenaries for a moment. People specifically paid to fight in war. Every country has signed treaties saying that they will not use them as an adjunct to their standing forces in battle. Of course Russia is ignoring this, as they ignore so many other treaties, such as the one that guaranteed Ukraine safety after they surrendered all of the nuclear weapons that they came into possession of after the fall of the USSR.
Putin made a televised speech decrying the rebellion, simultaneously praising Wagner mercenaries and never naming Prigozhin. Sounds a bit like the disappearing Commissars. Will we soon learn that Prigozhin was never the founder and head of Wagner, and it was actually someone else?
Wagner opened offices in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago. They were raided by police early today and over $40,000,000 (US equiv) cash was seized. Prighozin says that by charter he operates strictly on a cash-basis and that money was to pay the families of his people who are killed in combat. I'm sure the Russian government will return the money at their first opportunity.
The most recent and significant development is that the president of Belaruse, Lukashenko, held talks with Prighozin and convinced him to turn his troops around and stop his rebellion. So things are slowly calming down and we shall see how this resolves.
But what will happen in Ukraine? If Wagner pulled all, or a bulk, of their forces from Ukraine for this march, that is an amazing opportunity for the Ukraine military to literally make hay while the sun shines. With their opposition diminished, they have an excellent opportunity to exploit this situation.
This BBC link has live coverage, you can refresh it for the latest news on the situation:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-66006142
