while wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin was on the rampage against officials in moscow, officials in kyiv were largely silent, following napoleon s advice, never to interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake. briefly, many ukrainians entertained the hope that civil war or chaos in russia would lead to an early end to war, but prigozhin s sudden about-face dashed those hopes. sunday ukrainian presidential adviser said in an interview he was hoping for something more concrete, perhaps a civil war in russia. he said he was still confident that will eventually happen. while attention was diverted away from the front, the fighting went on. sunday, ukrainian officials claimed their forces had seized a kilometer, a kilometer stretch of trenches near bakhmut.
future, creating a dynasty, grooming his young son, sometimes dressed in a military uniform, for leadership. often taking him to meetings with world leaders. his intervention to broker an apparent truce in russia and help putin by hosting wagner boss yevgeny prigozhin suggests his own fate and his family s is more intertwined with russia than ever before. nic robertson, cnn, london. late sunday night, china gave public support to russia s government, and in particular, president vladimir putin. beijing waited a day after the armed insurrection was over. china s foreign ministry posting on its website this. this is russia s internal affair. as russia s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, china supports russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity. meantime, relations between
the kremlin says it s dropped charges and prigozhin will go to belarus, while promising his fighters contracts with the russian military. for now, a crisis apparently averted. but this very public betrayal and the mercenaries short but unimpeded march on moscow reveals deep weakness at the heart of the putin regime. ivan watson, cnn. there appears to be no clear winners russia from this rebellion. the head of the mute news wagner group has agreed to exile in belarus to avoid prosecution. but for now, no sign of with a he might be, adding to a long list of questions over his future. cnn s fred pleitgen has our report. reporter: there is still a lot unclear about what s going to be in store in the future for the wagner private military company. one of the things we ve heard from the kremlin is they say that the fighters for wagner, buzz of their military achievements on the battlefield will be able to apply to join the russian military.
but some u.s. officials are still amazed the conflict ended so quickly. they expected the uprising to escalate. cnn s alex marquardt has more now, reporting in from washington. reporter: the abrupt ending to yevgeny prigozhin s march on moscow was sooner and less violent than u.s. national security and intelligence officials expected. a u.s. official tells cnn that they assessed that there would be a lot of fighting and bloodshed as wagner forces pushed up from southern russia towards moscow. instead, there is very little resistance from russia s army, security services and others, and wagner troops were well on their way to the capital before prigozhin shockingly called the advance to a halt and ordered his troops to turn around. a deal supposedly brokered by belarus also surprising the u.s. but the insurrection itself was predicted by the u.s. intelligence community, according to multiple sources speaking to cnn. movement and buildup of wagner troops, equipment and weapons was ob
rebellion was believed to be coming soon. intelligence officials briefed the gang of eight in congress. the leaders of both chambers from both parties as well as the head of the intelligence committees. here is congressman mike turner, the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee. this is not a weekend trip he is taking, taking his convoy, his military convoy up to moscow. there is a number of accomplices, including as we saw some of the russian people on the border with ukraine who clearly support the wagner group, in contrast to their support for the russian government. this is something that would have had to have been planned for a significant amount of time to be executed in the manner which it was. reporter: still, the speed and audacity of the move caught many by surprise, along with his sudden decision to stop his troops in their tracks. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. professor math you schmidt teaches national security at the university of new haven, joi