russian president vladimir putin trying to project an image of strength as he faces the biggest threat ever to his authority. is putin still in danger of losing power? his former prime minister says yes, and he will be outfront next. plus, where is yevgeny prigozhin? no confirmation that the wagner chief ever made it outside russia. as the fsb keeps its criminal investigation on prigozhin wide open. two moscow reporters who have covered him extensively with be reporting this hour. i m going to talk to the mayor of kyiv who warns ukraine is not prepared if putin attacks the biggest nuclear plant in all of europe. let s go outfront. and good evening, and welcome to a special edition of outfront. i am erin burnett live from ukraine tonight. tonight, putin on defense. the russian president speaking out three days after the armed rebellion led by his former ally yevgeny prigozhin. and make no mistake, a threat to putin s authority tonight is very well. putin right now
dramatic speech, we would expect him to say something important. the tv program on russian channels was interrupted. and then he says basically nothing apart from prigozhin is bad, the wagner guys are not bad, they are good, you re free to do whatever you choose, fight with the army, go back to your families, or go to belarus. so i took it as kind of like him personally again telling them that s the deal we made, you don t hear it from other people, you hear it from me directly. so, max, what s interesting, and you point the time line out here, right? you first, today, had prigozhin an 11-minute-long rant on tape. and it was after that that we heard from putin. what does that time line say to you? honestly, putin s speech was such a letdown this evening. my first thought at the end was,
back in my day, it was scary stories and flashlights. we don t get scared. oh, really? mom can see your search history. that s what i thought. introducing the next generation 10g network. only from xfinity. welcome back to a special edition of outfront. we are live in ukraine tonight. the head of the wagner group yevgeny prigozhin slamming military leaders in russia yet again, saying his march to moscow revealed, quote, many serious security problems in the country. translator: we blocked all military units and airfields along the way in 24 hours, we walked the distance equal to the distance from where the special
matthew chance is outfront to begin our coverage. he is in moscow. and nick paton walsh joins me here in kyiv. what is the very latest there amidst all of this deep uncertainty? reporter: err have the course of the past few hours, we ve seen a couple of people, vladimir putin, yevgeny prigozhin, sort of emerge from the weekend, and to make their first statement. putin s been notably absent since that wagner mutiny threatened his grip on power at the weekend. but he s now appeared on russian state television. basically saying that he did everything he could to prevent bloodshed and also restating an offer to the wagner mercenaries to either join the russian military or to move to belarus. translator: for the first time since the russian rebellion ended, vladimir putin has addressed his nation. a short speech condemning rebel leaders as traitors playing into
enforcer seems over. saturday, putin indirectly branding prigozhin a traitor, saying he was leading an armed insurrection. the tipping point in escalating tensions, prigozhin sending battle hardened wagner mercenary fighters towards moscow from an undisclosed location, os tensively on his way to exile in belarus, prigozhin denied. prigozhin s point, his beef not with putin directly but with his defense minister, sergei shoigu, whom he blames for starting an inconceived war in ukraine. translator: as a result of the ill conceived decisions, it was planned that this unit would