‘Putin made the wrong choice. All the worse for him. Soon we will have a new president’: Prigozhin’s Wagner group says Russian leader will be toppled as mercenary groups says it has shot down Russian military helicopters
- Footage shows black plumes of smoke rising after a helicopter was targeted
- Russian forces seemed to confirm three of its attack helicopters were shot down
Prigozhin’s Wagner group have reportedly said Russian leaders will be toppled and ‘soon we will have a new president’.
It comes as the Wagner group claimed to have shot down three Russian helicopters since its coup began – as they continue their vow to punish military leaders.
Shocking footage shows huge black plumes of smoke rising into the air on a field after what is claimed to be a helicopter was targeted and burst into flames.
Russian forces appeared to confirm three of its attack helicopters had been shot down by Wagner.
A sinister message posted on the Wagner Telegram channel on Saturday said: ‘Putin made the wrong choice. All the worse for him.
‘Soon we will have a new president.’
Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin (centre) and Russian Wagner Group fighters are seen at the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces in Rostov-on-Don
A sinister message posted on the Wagner Telegram channel on Saturday said: ‘Putin made the wrong choice. All the worse for him. Soon we will have a new president’
The Wagner group claims to have shot down three Russian helicopters since its coup began
Russian president Vladimir Putin today branded Prigozhin’s military coup ‘treason’ as he addressed the Russian people, saying the military leader has ‘stabbed him in the back’
It comes as an enraged Prigozhin declared on Friday that his 25,000-strong force is marching into Rostov-on-Don, and is ‘unopposed’.
Prigozhin made the move in fury at what he said was Moscow’s attack on his men, adding that he intends to march to Moscow to take on defense chiefs.
Other video footage emerging online today appeared to show a major oil depot engulfed in flames in Voronezh.
Videos show a helicopter flying over the depot before a huge explosion sends a fireball into the air.
Russian president Vladimir Putin today branded Prigozhin’s military coup ‘treason’ as he addressed the Russian people, saying the military leader has ‘stabbed him in the back’.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released in the early hours of Saturday that his forces have reached the strategically important city of Rostov-on-Don
Prigozhin and his feared 25,000-strong Wagner militia have reportedly control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, saying they are ‘ready to die’ as they vow revenge for a military strike from Putin’s forces that the mercenary leader says killed some of his men.
All public events have been cancelled in the Russian capital as Vladimir Putin took to TV to say some Russians have been ‘tricked into a criminal adventure’ in a bid to affirm his shaky grip on power.
Putin described the group’s actions as a ‘criminal adventuristic campaign’ that is ‘equivalent to armed mutiny’, and urged those involved to cease any armed action, as the unit’s HQ in St Petersburg was reportedly raided today.
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