President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on June 24 that the Wagner rebellion had demonstrated "complete chaos" in Russia.
"Today the world saw that Russian leaders don't control anything," he said. "It's complete chaos. Complete absence of any predictability on Russian territory, which is packed with weapons."
He also said that the longer Russian troops stay on Ukrainian land, the more devastation they will bring to Russia.
“The longer this person is in the Kremlin, the more disasters there will be,” Zelensky said, referring to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky also called on the West to supply F-16 fighters and long-range missiles to protect Europe’s eastern flank from Russian forces.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his rebellion after alleging on June 23 that a missile strike on his mercenary forces in Ukraine had caused substantial casualties.
But the insurrection appeared to be over in the evening of June 24.
Prigozhin said on Telegram that the mercenaries would stop their march on Moscow and withdraw to military camps.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed he had held talks with Prigozhin, after which Wagner’s boss announced the mercenaries’ retreat, according to Lukashenko’s press service.
The insurrection case against Prigozhin will be closed, and he will move to Belarus, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 24.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
