and a lot of people say quite brutally as well. training the security forces of some african countries, and supporting them, in some pretty brutal operations as well. but it wasn t until the ukraine war, wolf, that this turned into one of the most powerful armies in that part of europe. they now have tanks. they have artillery. and you know, i ve been under fire, in bakhmut from what was presumably wagner positions, so they have. so heaviest weapons that are out there, and that s one of the reasons why yevgeny prigozhin is now such a threat to vladimir putin and also of course to the defense minister, to shoigu. what is also interesting, wolf, is these wagner fighters, they have a lot of respect, among a lot of people in the russian armies. they ve been known to be tough and very good at what they do. and he uses prisoners and former russian jail prisoners in some cases but in general the wagner fighters are very well respected by russian soldiers and that might be one of the reasons w
acknowledging that this is a direct threat to putin s leadership. or at least that s prigozhin s intention, it appears here, they have also been watching now for how far he and his forces can go, in effect. so they have taken control of rostov-on-don. that has significance, given that it is a power center, a logistics center, for russian forces operating in ukraine, but as they send their forces north, what western intelligence has been watching very closely is how regular army units, russian regular army units respond to the advance of the wagner group, this paramilitary group, and so far, western intelligence has noted that along the way, at least some of those russian regular army units have been passive in response, not necessarily joining prigozhin, but not stopping him. letting him and his forces continue on their way. we should note as well that it appears that prigozhin s forces,
russia right now. we will explain the situation and take a closer look at the man behind this escalation, we ll do that when we come back. . my retirement funds allow me to enjoy y what i love to do. as long as you can make an impact,t, why stop? with the freestyle libre 2 system, know your glucose level and where it s headed. no fingersticks needed. nage your diabetes with more confidence. freestyle libre 2. trit for free at freestylelibre.us what are folks 60 and older up tthese days? getting inspired! volunteering! playing pickleba.!
be out of the game, and if the ukrainians fight now, that may be an opportunity that they won t see again. do you think the russians will use air power to try to kill and attack these wagner forces? i think putin at this point will do whatever he can to stay in power. if that involves using air power against them, i don t see why he would hold back to prevent a coup or a rebellion. an that s certainly a possibility, in the works right now a spokesperson for the ukrainian military general says this rebellion will benefit ukraine because these wagner fighters, in their words, are much more skilled than the russian military. do you see this as potentially an opening, an important opening for ukraine as it begins to launch its counter-offensive? well, i do, but again,
says the ukrainian military, quote, will undoubtedly benefit from the rebellion unfolding right now inside russia. volodymyr zelenskyy says, russia s actions in ukraine have led it to the chaos it s now engulfed in back in russia. ben wedeman is joining us live from zaporizhzhia in ukraine. how is this likely to affect the war in ukraine? reporter: well, certainly what we ve heard already from a spokesman for ukrainian forces in eastern ukraine is they think it will have an impact on the front lines because the wagner group, it appears, has withdrawn many of its troops from ukraine back to russia to take part in this insurrection. at the end of may, wagner announced it was pulling its