moscow in recent weeks. and we ve seen a number of attacks across the border by ukrainian or ukrainian-backed forces. so we know the borders, the air defenses, and frankly it seemed the russian military units down here not able to repel wagner s advance, all vulnerabilities there. what does that mean for the state of stability in russia and the strength of the current government there? so what you re dealing with, jim, is really a very weakened military force. there are several reasons perhaps why the russian army did not respond to prigozhin and to the wagner group moving up the m-4 highway here this. this is a major highway. it s i-95 in russia. what you re looking at is the fact they weren t able to cut the russians off, let s say or i m sorry the wagner group here or even earlier when they came out of ukraine in these areas. that really tells you that either they weren t prepared, or they just thought, you know what?
able to hop off to belarus and the kremlin dropping charges against him? i m not saying steve was offering a simple explanation, but they figured out a way for all of them to get out of the jam, and that has to be the way it is for the time being. yes, i think that there was they had found themselves almost looking with brinkmanship at each other. prigozhin and wagner probably bit off far more than they could chew. but they had the opiate of all these people and public along the way, cheering them on, down the m-4, which is a very good highway going through cities and towns. yeah, i think s that that. i think they had to come out. i think just to realize they had
m-4 motorway towards the capital. russian forces then erected it defensive positions and blockaded main roads and bridges along the route, that is before the order was given for the mercenaries to then stand down. we can now get more from diana magnay, who is in moscow. you do it wonder what it was that that mercenary column would or could have done once they got to moscow. would they have taken the defense ministry and key military installations here? what they have needed considerable support from security forces within moscow to do that? perhaps, yevgeny prigozhin failed to realize that would not come through, is one possible theory. i think it will be interesting as well to see when and if we hear or see seguin show you the defense minister or valery gerasimov, because the kremlin said last night that their future it was not discussed as part of this deal. but seeing as apparently they
military. yet more unprecedented mayhem is likely to follow. we just heard a loud bang at the headquarters of the military. reporter: you see a scene there from when blasts were heard in rostov and the reaction there from a reporter. continually signs that wagner forces are moving up the m-4 highway. lipetsk, the next town on from vorenezh, where you saw helicopters in what appeared to be clashes there, lipetsk is blocking some of the entries and exits and there are traffic restrictions on the next town up toward moscow. in the capital, military positions being set up. this is an absolutely extraordinary time, one which is clearly going to entirely recalibrate the control putin
his rule, what does it mean for president zelenskyy and the ukraine military? griff, good to be with you again, look, if i was the ukrainian general in charge of the battle going on right now. i d go all in. when you look at what s happening here, the 58th combined armies controls the battle in ukraine is neutered, and the wagner forces moved out of the bakhmut and moving north on m-4. so look at ukraine. if you were ukrainians, sit back and watch or move forward. i think this is the time let s go for broke and right here here when you look at the map, what i would do, you some across sap zaporizhzhia and cut the russian forces in half. i would be thinking they haven t committed six brigades, western trained brigades, and