hi, bret. bret: this is america s newsroom. 36 hours of chaos threatening vladimir putin s grip on power. mercenary group that was supporting russia in ukraine turning against the kremlin and marching towards moscow. dana: the rebels were members of the wagner group. their leader called off the revolte at the 11th hour. not clear why. his whereabouts right now are unknown. ukrainian forces taking advantage of the chaos. they are reporting gains against russian troops in the east. russian defense minister is making his first public appearance since the revolt doing little to quell speculation that putin is in serious jeopardy. much of his longevity is tied to what happens inside ukraine. he knows full well his future is dependent on what happens in ukraine. i don t see him admitting that he made a terrible mistake here and pull all his troops out. you see a real public perception going against putin. he doesn t have a strong sense of being a strong man anymore. see
jon: it is perhaps the most serious challenge to the vladimir putin s authority, although at this moment it appears the challenge has edged. yevgeny prigozhin has turned his forces around and is said to be heading back to belarus. let s check in with our greg palkot who s covering the story from that part of the world. greg. reporter: jon, it looks like we re back on the brink in russia just across the border from where we are right now in kyiv, but it also looks like a lot of damage was done. it was the biggest risk to russian president vladimir putin s more than two decades of rule, attempted coup, an armed uprising. the man responsible, evgeni pregoes telephone, complaining friday about the war, then pulling his fighters out of ukraine and into the russian city of rostov-on-don with where, with little trouble, they took over the place. and, yes, prigozhin sent forces towards moscow, within 120 miles, the kremlin bracing for an attack, vladimir putin branding the actions
lukashenko, speaking out as prigozhin himself settles in. the wagner group leader is in belarus after a failed mutiny in russia. but he s not saying much and has no plans to. he doesn t want to, as you just heard there, speak to nobody including vladimir putin. prigozhin might want to lay low. david petraeus still recommends he be careful around open windows. the general is here. first, fox team coverage in kyiv on how ukraine is capitalizing on the chaos and jennifer griffin in washington on how the pentagon is responding to the chaos. welcome, everybody. i m neil cavuto. glad to have you. let s get to it with greg first in ukraine. greg? hi, neil. first, a reminder that russia is still very much in this war. the eastern ukrainian town slammed by a russian missile. big damage done. this as putin put a spin on it. he called the wagner mercenary group blackmail, doomed to failure. in belarus, president lukashenko who helped strike a deal in dark terms. if he said if russian
sk crisis in russia. i m michael smerconish. putin warns those involved in the mercenary group will be punished. p prigozhin says they killed a, quote, huge amount of his men. a long-time ally of the kremlin, he claimed troops had taken control of facilities in the russian cities of voronezh and rostov-on-don without firing a shot. one general called it a coup d etat, but prigozhin deniesoco. there was an announced a criminal investigation of prigozhin and they were to stop and detain their leader. in an address to the nation, putin said this. translator: i repeat, any internal turmoil is a mortal threat to our statehood, to us as a nation. this is a blow to russia, to our people. so our actions to defend the fatherland against such a threat will be severe. all those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared a mutiny, who chose blackmail and terrorist methods will face punishment. joining me to discuss is retired u.s. attorney alexander vindman, on the