SAT, JUNE 24 2023-theGBJournal |”Everyone who chooses the path of evil destroys themselves,” says Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in response to news of the unfolding mutiny by Russia’s Wagner mercenary force led by outspoken Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Wagner mercenary Chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin went for broke in attempt to dethrone Russia’s military leadership after he accused them of killing his men in Ukraine, a claim Moscow denied.
Prigozhin, in a video posted on his Telegram channel today, said that his men have seized ”all military facilities in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. He said they are also deployed in Voronezh, further north, following his threat to march on Moscow to topple Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Russian President Vladimair Putin said in an emergency address, that Russia was facing treason. ”It was a ”stab in the back” and pledged to punish those who had ”betrayed” Russia.
Prigozhin’s led mutiny is seen as an astonishing development that could lead to Putin’s demise eventually. It also exposes the fragility of his grip on power.
Zelensky said Russia has long disguised its weakness and the foolishness of its rule with propaganda. ”But there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it.”
In an apparent mockery of Russia’s military leadership, Zelensky said: They send columns of soldiers to devastate another country, but can’t stop them from fleeing and betraying. They send hundreds of thousands to war-only to end up barricading themselves in Moscow.
Russia’s weakness is apparent. A full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troop and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will later bring upon itself.”
Zelensky noted that his country is capable of protecting Europe from the spread of Russian evil, and chaos.
”We preserve our strength, unity and power. All our warriors know what to do.”
Tymofiy Mylovanov, President Kyiv School of Economics and adviser, Zelensky administration, said Putin rhetoric gives Prigozhin much more weight than to the entire Ukrainian army successes.
”This is just another sign that Putin lives in a false reality, the situation in Russia is way worse than Kremlin tries to project, and Russia could crumble.”
He said Power change in Russia is possible, ”but if that happens it is likely to be brutal.”
Putin has since acknowledged that the situation in Rostov-on-Don was difficult with Wagner forces said to be in control of military facilities in the city of Voronezh, north of Rostov and on route to Moscow.
Meanwhile, Putin’s presidential plane was seen flying out of Russian today with many speculating that Putin is on-board with his close allies, headed to St. Petersburg.
War correspondents say Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Security Council of the Russian Federation, has been evacuated from Moscow region together with his family and assistants.
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