Allies urged Kyiv to refrain from striking targets on Russian soil during Wagner Group's armed rebellion, CNN reported, citing an unnamed Western official.
"The message was don't rock the boat here," the official said, explaining it by the allies' efforts to ensure the West and Ukraine were not seen as helping Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to CNN's source, the message was conveyed at the level of foreign ministers, deputies, and through ambassadors.
"It's an internal Russian matter," the Ukrainian government was reportedly told. This statement aligns with what the U.S. and other Western officials have said publicly about Prigozhin's "march for justice" that stopped short of entering Moscow.
"Ukrainians were being cautioned by allies not to provoke the situation. Make hay of opportunities on Ukrainian territory but don't get drawn into internal matters or strike at offensive military assets inside of Russia," the official added, as cited by CNN.
On June 23, Prigozhin launched an armed uprising against Russian military leaders after claiming the Russian army had attacked his forces. Wagner Group captured the regional capital of Rostov and marched as far as the city of Kashira in Moscow Oblast before abruptly ending the rebellion on June 24.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also addressed the rebellion in Russia, saying that it had demonstrated "complete chaos" in Russia. The longer Russia continues its all-out war against Ukraine, the more problems it risks facing on its own territory, according to Zelensky.
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also commented on Russia's crisis calling it "predictable and inevitable." She added that Moscow's "imperial campaign for new lands" in Ukraine only exacerbated Russia's internal problems.
Petro Burkovskyi
(Updated: )
