Prigozhin later claimed his troops opened fire because Russian helicopters mistakenly targeted civilian roadsters. Prigozhin’s column entering Rostov appears to have elicited an exchange fire late Friday evening. So, it seems that all of the violence during the Wagner revolt occurred between VKS and Wagner’s ground troops. Russian armed forces on the ground-including army, Rosgvardia national guard and other internal security troops-evidently failed to shoot at, or even to simply obstruct, Wagner forces. Indeed, the mutiny led the VKS to lose more in 24 hours than it had in several days of frontline combat against Ukraine’s counter offensive. 1 Il-22M airborne command post/comms relay plane.

3 electronic warfare helicopters (Mi-8MTPR-1).Never mind the seven Russian military aircraft reportedly shot down and 13 Russian air force (VKS) pilots killed by Wagner anti-aircraft fire, as reported by pro-Russian military sources. Charges of armed rebellion against Prigozhin were dropped, he would move to Belarus, and some of his troops would still be absorbed by Russia’s military while others may be transferred to Wagner’s extensive overseas deployments, particularly in Africa. Twenty-four hours later-after Putin promised to “brutally” deal with a henchman he now described as a back-stabbing traitor in a public address-the relationship was patched over in a deal supposedly proposed by Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukaschenko. 7 Lessons Russia Learned From Its Ukraine Failures.

Kindergarten graduate