group now themselves irreparably damaged? that remains to be seen as a critical question. what is the fate of the wagner group? and as you indicated, in ukraine, they re the most effective fighting force that the russians have had. and they re very active. and from the russian standpoint, very effective in lots of other areas that you enumerated. so, that s a great question. what is going to happen to them? they are under the loose of the special operations forces. so, there is somewhat of a functional kinship there. and whether the russian government would attempt to have more control over the wagner group and its activities by tethering it to some element of the government, ministry of defense, gre, whatever, remains to be seen. but it s clearly this is a big problem for the russians
to understand the importance of events in russia this weekend, we have to turn the clock back a bit. 2014, when the wagner group was first identified fighting to seize crimea from ukraine. at the time, it was thought to have about 5,000 troops fighting mostly in africa and the middle east. fast forward now to january, when the ukraine the uk ministry of defense put its numbers at 50,000 fighters in ukraine alone. those troops, most recruited from russian prisons, played a crucial role in the war, particularly in places like bakhmut in the east, where some of the bloodiest and longest battles of the war took place. with me here now is former u.s. director of national intelligence, james clapper. years of experience, decades, i should say, looking into russia and what s happening there. thanks so much for joining us. thanks, jim.
sense of relief, at least here in the russian capital. it s calm now. but in the mayhem of the weekend, moscow was on high alert. military check points on the outskirts of the city, residents bracing for wagner fighters to enter and for the confrontation that never came. [ speaking non-english ] reporter: it was really uneasy yesterday, says andre, but look now. people are walking in the streets and it s all good. let s hope it stays peaceful, he adds. even here, this sympathy for prigozhin s unprecedented challenge is tirades against the war in ukraine appears to have struck a popular chord. i think it was an expression of an opinion, says oleg, another resident of moscow, an opinion of a powerful person who wants some justice and clarity. the belief prigozhin should be
through all the events in russia this weekend, the war in ukraine is still ablaze. bloody fighting underway in the east and the south, as ukrainian forces continue to press their counteroffensive. could the turmoil and division inside russia present an opportunity for ukraine? cnn s ben wedeman reports now from zaporizhzhia. reporter: jim, after the brief but intense drama in russia, it s back to the war in ukraine. while wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin was on the rampage in moscow, officials in kyiv were largely silent following napoleon s advice never to interrupt your enemy while he s making a mistake. briefly, many ukrainians entertained the prospect that chaos in russia would lead to an early end to the war. but prigozhin s sudden about-face dashed those hopes. said in an interview, he was
message, we re serious. and this insanity need to stop and really put pressure on the international community to put pressure on russia because russia should have never been allowed to get away. but unfortunately, we didn t learn mistakes, including from world war ii. as you note, bandits, as you describe, and factions often with their own armed militias now. wagner group is not a singular case there. i wonder, before we go, was our reporting this week from the view of western intelligence, ukraine s counteroffensive has not to date at least, and it is early achieved the goals as expected or made the progress that some had expected at this stage of the counteroffensive. i wonder, do you are you concerned that ukrainian forces are running into greater resistance in the east and the south than perhaps even they expected? well, i think, you know, no war is won in one battle. but i ll tell you one thing,