tonight, we begin with breaking news out of russia. a major twist in that country s war against ukraine. vladimir putin forced to confront a rebellion within his own borders. just hours ago, we learned that if guinea prigozhin, the owner and the head of the wagner group and mercenary force that has been fighting alongside the russian military and ukraine, halted his advance on to the country s capital. that announcement came shortly after prigozhin claimed he and his fighters had captured the city of rostov-on-don home to the russian military headquarters for its war in ukraine. since their invasion last year, moscow has become dependent on the back in a group to support the war efforts as they re dwindling russian forces struggle to make significant gains inside ukrainian territory. in december, the u.s. said it believed the group had an estimated 50,000 personnel inside ukraine alone. it made up of about 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts that were recruited from inside
putin and getting through to him may not be the best way to achieve his goals. so i would take that with a grain of salt. but i would think that prigozhin is fed up with the role that he feels he was forced to play in that war with ukraine. he didn t get enough support. he was wielding putin s troops. he wheels, and he claims, accurately, that his mercenary forces have taken some of the hardest battles without proper backup from the ministry of defense. and also, he feels, also correctly, that a couple of weeks ago when he was in the public debate with the ministry of defense, the presidential administration allowed the ministry of defense to prevail. and basically the defense ministry was moving in on prigozhin s mercenary force and planning to take over, to take up a hunt control of the ministry. which is something prigozhin wouldn t allow. so it s possible that an