Wagnerites take control of military facilities in Voronezh – Reuters

Wagner Private Military Company’s mercenaries have seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh, Reuters reports.

Source: Reuters, citing its source in Russian secret services

Quote: "A Russian security source told Reuters that Wagner fighters had also taken control of military facilities in the city of Voronezh, further north on the road towards Moscow [500 kilometres from Moscow – ed.]."

Details: The media outlet noted that it could not independently confirm this assertion or any other information provided earlier by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC.

The Voronezh Oblast Administration reported at around 05:00 that there was a military convoy on the M-4 motorway and urged residents to avoid it.

Reuters notes that unverified footage posted on social media depicts a convoy of various military vehicles, including at least one tank and one armoured vehicle. The location of the vehicles was unclear, as well as whether there were any soldiers in the trucks in that convoy. Some of the vehicles were carrying the Russian flag.

Background:

• Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagnerites’ rear camps. Prigozhin claimed that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Rostov, where he personally conducted an operation to wipe out the mercenaries.
• Prigozhin's 25,000 mercenaries are allegedly going to "restore justice". At the same time, he asked not to call this action a "military coup". Prigozhin added that Shoigu had fled Rostov like a coward and "this creature will be stopped". The Russian Defence Ministry called the information a provocation.
• Photos and videos of armoured vehicles on the streets of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don are being posted on Russian social media following Prigozhin’s statement about a de facto declaration of war against the Russian army. Checkpoints have been set up at entrances to Moscow.
• Prigozhin claimed that his mercenaries had shot down four Russian army helicopters; later, many Telegram channels in Ukraine and Russia reported that an An-26, a Russian Defence Ministry transport aircraft, has been downed.
• On the morning of 24 June, the headquarters of the Southern Military District in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don was surrounded by tanks and people in military uniforms, although at the moment, it is not known whether these were Russian army personnel or mercenaries from the Wagner PMC.
• In an emergency address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and Prigozhin’s mercenaries were trying to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
• On 24 June, Sergey Sobianin, the mayor of Moscow, announced that a counter-terrorism operation (CTO) had been introduced in the capital.
• On the morning of 24 June, Putin called Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, and told him what was happening in Russia.
• Roads have been blocked in Moscow Oblast.

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