ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

youre left like heres a tweet from a ukrainian race car driver

Reportedly Wagner PMC in Rostov. pic.twitter.com/SoTE6jZCmN

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) June 24, 2023

Prigozin and his men are basically dead men walking. Why not go out trying to bring it all down

For a guy who started as a caterer to the Kremlin, this is quite a shift

more service workers should start their own armies

Russia’s domestic intelligence service has opened a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin...after he appeared to cross a red line with the Kremlin on Friday when he vowed to retaliate against the country’s military leadership for what he described as strikes launched against his forces.

The open confrontation was sparked by a series of Telegram posts on Friday, where Prigozhin accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp. “A huge amount of our fighters were killed,” he said, in a radical escalation of a longstanding feud with Russia’s military leaders.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied the claims, calling it an “informational provocation.”

The mercenary, who has frequently criticized Russia’s traditional military hierarchy, then warned that retribution would be meted out. “We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers and return to the front, justice for the troops will be restored, and then justice for all of Russia,” he said.

He said that his forces would “destroy” any resistance, including roadblocks and aircraft, suggesting the disagreement could turn into warfare.

“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to, join us. We must end this debacle,” he said.

In a later Telegram post, Prigozhin said that his criticism of the Russian military leadership was a “march of justice” and not a coup. “This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way,” Prigozhin said.

Glad he did it before Erik Prince had the chance to do the same here.

unclear whos tanks those are but generally you dont aim at a building if youre guarding it

Wagner forces have surrounded the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military district in Rostov.

It is really happening…#Coup #Russia #Rostov pic.twitter.com/ZuylmBYsHJ

— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) June 24, 2023

i would not be down there filming on my phone tell you what

I was thinking "weird since it's currently 5:17 a.m. in Rostov" until looking up the sunrise time: 4:26 a.m.

gotta love the northern life baby

Hard to understate how insane this is. Rostov has over a million people, Russia's 11th most populated city and a military hub. It's like disgruntled Blackwater vets seizing San Diego against little to no resistance.

— Aric Toler (@AricToler) June 24, 2023

I don’t know much about the Wagner group or the guy running it… but what’s the end game here? If dude just wants out of this mess, it seems like a funny way to go about it

Meduza is a pretty solid news source so track this page:

https://meduza.io/en/live/2023/06/23/yevgeny-prigozhin-s-coup

Meanwhile, on Russian state TV: astrology pic.twitter.com/BeB39Ejs1z

— max seddon (@maxseddon) June 24, 2023

Sounds like they had a relatively small force that they took into Rostov and now they are occupying Russian military buildings. Not sure how reliable that is, but it's not nothing.

gotta love the northern life baby

further south than Seattle!

So is it possible that Putin arranged a false coup attempt to ... I dunno ... look stronger in crushing it?

I'm not saying I think this is happening, I'm just trying to figure out an alternative explanation for what we're "seeing" is.

I bet we'll have alternative options by morning.

An extraordinary video of Prigozhin taking over the HQ of the Southern Military District in Rostov, telling the deputy defense minister and the deputy head of GRU that he’s marching onto Moscow to save Russia, and that he shot down three helicopters. pic.twitter.com/iEQzBhpbS4

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 24, 2023

https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/24-june-russian-tactical-aviation-bombing-wagner-troops-with

liveuamap has Wagner troops being bombed on the M4 Highway, though they have it between Rostov and Voronezh (which they apparently both have). Rybar saying same, but not much in the way of footage if so

So is it possible that Putin arranged a false coup attempt to ... I dunno ... look stronger in crushing it?

I'm not saying I think this is happening, I'm just trying to figure out an alternative explanation for what we're "seeing" is.

Nothing from Kadyrov yet?

lol speaking of tiktok generals - he has (apparently) come out on telegram against Prigozhin, saying now is not the time or something like it.

i mean, he's always been quite canny about his positioning. ie nowhere near the front line but with LOTS OF VIDEOS showing how enthusiastic they are.

RAW era russia is unmatched

for anyone interested i did put together some prigozhin links a while ago (ie not completely up to date) here.

eg this from March:

CHANGES AT WAGNER

In a video released on🇷🇺Telegram, Prigozhin says “after the capture of Bakhmut, Wagner Group will change and become an ‘army with an ideology.’”

The ideology is, cryptically, “to fight for justice.”

What does that mean?

If I was Shoigu, I would be concerned. pic.twitter.com/N5hgpPRcMX

— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) March 10, 2023

Or this from the WSJ:

Early on, Mr. Prigozhin gained a reputation for showy stunts, once shooting at mannequins draped in American flags. He then covered them in ketchup, took photos and leaked them to Russian media outlets, said people with knowledge of the stunts.

further south than Seattle!

― anvil, Saturday, June 24, 2023 12:07 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

uh no lol

and a nice piece on the 'aesthetics and marketing of the Wagner Group' here.

apologies, i don't generally like flooding ilx with tweets (you can get those on twitter right?) but this is producing stuff that's too good not to share:

it just had to be the song from the ghanaian pallbearers meme didn't it https://t.co/XwuXxnvfpD

— max seddon (@maxseddon) June 24, 2023

incredible work on the Wagner Group wiki page. pic.twitter.com/KGXhv0B22V

— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) June 24, 2023

is there any clear way to distinguish between the national military and the Wagner troops and tanks etc? could be a lot of "friendly" casualties when this kicks off

I *think* so? at least regular russia military watchers seem to be able to tell (it's all khaki to me), and i'd say the same for people and troops on the ground (they have after all been taking potshots). that said, i suspect a lot of it is positional ('they're shooting at *me* from over *there*?! fire!'), and war is proverbially chaos so. yeah. therre are three types of fire it seems, enemy fire, friendly fire, frenemy fire.

actually probably the best answer to anything itt is 'who the fuck knows'.

Putin evoking 1917 as a betrayal of mother Russia is pure meltdom, what a dick!

getting conflicting reports on whether russia is a motherland or fatherland

Frank Lampard caretaker Russian President https://t.co/COP7vnjTIu

— Shivam Manghnani (@shivamLM) June 24, 2023

This guy is the only one that seems to know for sure what he’s trying to do. https://t.co/7PEiVvzO7Y

— Michael Kofman (@KofmanMichael) June 24, 2023

to what end? i do not see it ending up well for him or Wagner Group, senior generals are all issuing their statements in support of the Putin regime.

No idea at this stage but if there was no resistance in Voronezh or Rostov and they're confident enough to move east, south, and north from there all at once suggests something pretty well planned in advance. Depends if same happens in Krasnodar and Volgograd as Rostov and Voronezh

A surreal video. Prigozhin negotiating in Rostov with MoD's deputy ninister (left) and GRU's deputy chief Alexeev. Tells them he wants to Shoigu and Gerassimov handed over, and until he gets them Wagner will occupy Rostov and march on to Moscow. pic.twitter.com/tOcFDZMek2

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) June 24, 2023

everyone writing off Prigozhin last night because he looks like he presents 'Wigan's hardest Bouncers' on Channel 5

— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) June 24, 2023

getting conflicting reports on whether russia is a motherland or fatherland

Maybe it identifies as genderfluid. When will this liberal woke nonsense end?

This fucking account back at it again. pic.twitter.com/Da5mLFOG7G

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) June 24, 2023

your dad when he hears the Formula One bit of The Chain pic.twitter.com/jpMBxBeNmU

— wariotifo (@wariotifo) June 24, 2023

I have a handful of friends in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, should I be concerned for their safety? I don’t know anything about politics and didn’t know anything about this Wagner Group until this morning. If it helps, they are all academics at technical schools.

I also ask because sanctions make it especially challenging to communicate (e.g., we have policies between MIT and Skoltech that can circumvent sanctions but we have strict policies about non-in-person communication).

seems unlikely that this will break out into a big civil war thats dangerous for civilians, i mean who knows where it leads but it looks like more of a coup right now, its not a very big group thats advancing toward moscow and we have footage of prigozhin negotiating with the russian military

having said that if the coup succeeds or even if it doesnt really its certainly uncertain times for russia, which was true a couple days ago too, and is more true now

That’s a relief. I should probably stop getting my news from Reddit.

the russian "news environment" is pretty interesting altogether, very post truth lol

I'm surprised at people itt not knowing anything (or much) about the Wagner Group and Prigozhin - suggests the war in Ukraine is not getting anything like the same coverage in the US/North America as over here?

yeah id think europe is prob more invested for obvious reasons, the war has gotten a lot of burn here but prob not as much, i know prigozhin but i may have been watching some sicko youtubes