According to Prigozhin, Wagner soldiers are advancing and fighting the military

After the call by the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Moscow is apparently preparing for armed clashes between the military and Wagner soldiers. Heavy military trucks and armored vehicles were spotted in several parts of central Moscow early Saturday. Soldiers with assault rifles were stationed in front of the main building of the Ministry of Defense. The area around the Presidential Administration near Red Square was cordoned off, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his troops had advanced from Ukraine into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. At the checkpoints, the Wagner soldiers encountered young conscripts who offered no resistance. Rostov is the Russian military headquarters for the southern region, which also monitors the fighting in Ukraine.

Initially, there were no signs on Russian social networks that Wagner troops actually took Rostov. Videos showed heavy trucks blocking access roads to the city. Long convoys of National Guard trucks could be seen outside the city, armored vehicles driving through the streets.

Prigozhin also claimed that the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, sent fighter jets to attack Wagner convoys that were traveling alongside regular vehicles. Prigozhin claimed his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter. There was no independent confirmation of this.