NEW YORK, June 26. /TASS/. Ukraine was unable to take advantage of the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), on the battlefield, these events did not have a negative impact on the situation on the battlefield for Russia, the New York Times said.
Citing US officials, the newspaper pointed out that "there did not seem to be any immediate defensive gaps to exploit," no Russian units left their positions on Friday or Saturday, and there was "no letup in the war."
At the same time, the newspaper says that Ukraine will "look to take advantage of the chaos" allegedly caused by the actions of Prigozhin and his supporters.
On the evening of June 23, several audio recordings were posted on Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Telegram channel. He particularly claimed that his units had come under attack, which he blamed on the country’s military authorities. The Federal Security Service (FSB) launched a criminal probe into calls for armed mutiny. The Russian Defense Ministry slammed the allegations of a strike on the PMC Wagners "rear camps" as fake news. The PMC units that supported Prigozhin headed to Rostov-on-Don and toward Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the nation on Saturday, described the Wagner group’s actions as armed mutiny and betrayal, vowing to take tough measures against the mutineers.
Later on Saturday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, held talks with Prigozhin resulting in the PMC turning its units around and returning to field camps. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a criminal case against the Wagner chief would be dropped, while Prigozhin himself would go to Belarus. Besides, the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute those at PMC Wagner who took part in the mutiny because of their "frontline merits."