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
some amount of time in belarus and have this pirate empire around the world. but we don t exactly know what the terms of this deal we re. and there were quite surprising. a few hours ago, i and journalists around the world we re looking at flight schedules thinking, how do we get to the region? how do we get there as soon as possible? because back near was on the move. they were heading up the m4 highway on their way to moscow. they were within a few hundred yards of moscow. troops were taking the streets of the russian capital locking it down. and it looked like we could have a battle for control of the city. something that hasn t taken place in russia really since the napoleon tried to invade the country. so it seemed very serious. and there was this surprise, mysterious announcement brokered allegedly by the president of belarus who is a close ally of vladimir putin.
external threat he constantly talks about of western forces and he believes he is fighting that in ukraine so i think you will try to refocus attention to the fight in ukraine but he has been really quite badly dented by this challenge to his authority very directly.- his authority very directly. thank ou. his authority very directly. thank you- reports his authority very directly. thank you. reports from his authority very directly. thank you. reports from afp his authority very directly. thank you. reports from afp as - his authority very directly. thank you. reports from afp as saying j his authority very directly. thank - you. reports from afp as saying that wagner fighters are leaving southern ukraine. we sell them progressing through out m4 highway. reports that they have left that region. let s bring in our next guest. let s bring in our next guest. i m joined now by dr sergey radchenko, professor of international relations atjohn hopkins university. it s not common to see
controlling things. you just for frightening people, not controlling things. just for frightening people, not controlling things. you are watching bbc news and controlling things. you are watching bbc news and i controlling things. you are watching bbc news and i am controlling things. you are watching bbc news and i am gareth - controlling things. you are watching bbc news and i am gareth barlow. l bbc news and i am gareth barlow. bringing you up to date with recent events, the tass news agency in russia saying chechen special forces or pulling out of the russian region of rostov on don. reports that 3000 chechen special forces aligned to be chechen special forces aligned to be chechen leader who is a close ally of vladimir putin have been deployed to moscow on saturday morning in case of a further advance by wagner forces who have retreated down the m4 highway and have let their positions. you are watching bbc news. key developments in the uk now. many emergency 999 calls are
days to come? i administration be looking for in the days to come? days to come? i think we will certainly days to come? i think we will certainly be days to come? i think we will certainly be watching - days to come? i think we will certainly be watching closely| days to come? i think we will. certainly be watching closely as days to come? i think we will- certainly be watching closely as the reports we have seen indicate, and it is not clear that any particular action is needed on the us part. there has been a lot of kerfuffle up and down the m4 highway in russia, but not a whole lot that might be actionable in terms of policy changes from the us side. if you look at the conflict between prigozhin and shoigu and gerasimov, they are really arguing over the most expedient way to destroy ukraine and kill ukrainians. in that sense, i don t think the imperatives in moscow or washington have changed. they need to step up even more support for ukraine having seen these events in moscow