Update (1509 EST): Prighozin stated that Russian Defense Minister Shoigu has fled Rostov Oblast, “but he will be stopped”. Indicating Shoigu is likely the object of Prighozin’s ire. Flashpoint News reported at 1222 EST, that Russian troops had been ordered to fire on Wagner troops. This is two hours before the Prighozin video was released.
Update (1458 EST):
Full message of Prigozhi "declaring war on the Russian Ministry of Defence:
"PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped.
They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word “justice”, and we… pic.twitter.com/1tCXPVn07p
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) June 23, 2023
Update (1452 EST): The Russian Ministry of Defense has officially denied the allegations from Prighozin, saying they “do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation.”
Update (1421 EST): Former Russian-backed Separatist Igor Girkin “Strelkov” commented that a “military coup attempt began” after this alleged incident.
His full comment reads below:
”I can’t comment on Prigozhin’s statement that the Wagner PMC camps were hit by rocket attacks by the RF Armed Forces. I also can’t comment on the attached video recording in any way – you can’t understand anything from it. But I state that the country is on the verge of an attempted military coup. Who initiates it is not yet clear. It is possible that both warring factions of the “party of power” are striving for it, with the neutrality of the third (the FSB and the Security Council).”
Moments ago, the official Wagner Group Telegram page and Prighozin’s personal TG page announced that Russian shelling or missile strikes hit a Wagner camp.
Official Wagner video claiming to show the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a Wagner camp at an undisclosed location and time. According to the official Wagner TG page, Prighozin has confirmed. pic.twitter.com/bMIwMmEa71
— Tessaron News (@TessaronF) June 23, 2023
Prigozhin claims that “Russian MoD carried out a missile strike at Wagner rear camps”.
Evgeniy Prigozhin published an audio message claiming that a “huge number of Wagner fighters have died” in the “missile strike” and that the “next step belongs to Wagner”. He also added that all involved in the strike will be punished and “any opposition will be destroyed.”
This is developing.
