to defend the state against this threat will be harsh. a large explosion near the city of voronezh — as a wagner convoy is seen travelling north toward the russian capital. an ultimatum from the wagner leader yevgeny prigozhin — let me speak to to the defence minister — or my forces will march on moscow. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. president vladimir putin has said that russia is facing an armed mutiny. it follows a major challenge from the head of the wagner mercenary group. mr putin warned of a harsh response to threats including what he called

blackmail and terrorist methods. he admitted that russian forces were not in control of the key city of rostov on don. what's led up to today's events? tanks and armoured vehicles have taken up positions in the southern russian city of rostov—on—don, as a dispute between the army and the wagner mercenary group threatens to degenerate into fighting. wagner troops also appear to be taking action in the voronezh region, which lies half way between rostov and moscow. a wagner military force has been seen passing the city heading to moscow. and an arms dump there, has been set on fire. these are some of the latest pictures that we have received. bbc verify have been able to locate this as in voronezh. in the distance you see a military helicopter flying over an urban area and a blast to the right of the shot

which we believe to be an oil depot in the area. our security correspondent gordon corera has this round up of the latest. a mutiny, perhaps even the start of a civil war. mercenaries belonging to the wagner group who'd been fighting for russia in ukraine now appear to have seized control of the russian city of rostov—on—don. residents have been told to stay indoors. one took these pictures which have been confirmed by bbc verify. the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prigozhin, posted a video said to be from this morning in which he appears outside the city's military headquarters, saying he's also taken control of the local airfield. and in another video, he appears arguing with two officials, one, the deputy defence minister. he demands to see the heads of the russian military with whom he's been engaging in a bitter public feud, claiming

they are responsible for the death of many of his men in ukraine. translation: the guys| are dying because you're pushing them into a meat grinder without munitions, without any thoughts, without any plan. you are just ageing clowns. once again, we came here and we want to see the chief of staff and the russian defence minister. until they come here, we will stay. we will block the city of rostov and go towards moscow. and in moscow today, signs of how seriously this was being taken, with new anti—terrorist measures being introduced in the capital. this morning, a visibly angry vladimir putin was forced to appear on tv to speak to the russian people. translation: any internal mutiny is a serious threat i to our state, our nation. it is a blow to russia, a blow to our people. and our actions to defend the state

against this threat will be harsh. so who is evgeny prigozhin? after time injail, he went into the catering business, catching the eye of russia's leader that led to him becoming known as putin's chef. lucrative military contracts followed. linked to interference in america's 2016 election. he became best known as head of the wagner group, a private military force acting for the russian state. it fought in africa and syria. it grew increasingly prominent and important following last year's invasion of ukraine. prigozhin recruited prisoners to fight in the war, but he became increasingly angry with moscow's military leadership, saying they were using his men as cannon fodder and failing to provide ammunition and support.

in recent weeks, his video messages became increasingly angry. there was a sense that a crisis was coming to a head. pictures verified by the bbc show smoke rising close to the city of voronezh. bbc news russian sources say wagner fighters have taken control of military facilities in that city, which lies on the road to moscow. with wagner forces in control of rostov and apparently on the move. there have been reports, unconfirmed, of air strikes. for the moment, it's unclear how this crisis will be resolved and with what level of violence. gordon corera, bbc news. just before we bring you our next analysis i am just going to update you on some breaking news coming to us via the reuters news agency who are quoting the raa news agency.

that the russian president, vladimir putin has signed a law permitting 30 day detention is for breaking martial law in places where it has been imposed. so hopefully we will get an update on where exactly that would be applicable to, in terms of the martial law, but the russian president has signed a law permitting 30 day detentions for breaking martial law in places where it has been imposed. that is from the raa news agency via reuters. our correspondent, andrew harding, is in the donbas region of ukraine — he told us about the reaction there to developments in russia. this morning we were out early on the front lines near bakhmut, this city that's been so pulverised by the russians who now occupy the city. the ukrainians though now launching fierce counter attacks and we are just back from those front lines, with, as you say, some ukrainian medics. everybody had heard the news

from russia, everybody who is not directly involved in the fighting has been consuming, devouring this news, of the chaos in their enemy camp, and many people delighted, but i'd also say quite cautious. one young russian medic said that if there's a revolution in moscow, i am going to get very drunk. he said that with a big grin, but his boss then turned round and said, look, it is way too early for that, i think we need to be very cautious. yes, this could help us, but the fact is there's furious fighting going on, ukrainians taking heavy casualties, we saw two and heard of seven more casualties just in the hour or two we were there. russians also taking heavy casualties. now, clearly this has happened at an opportune time for the ukrainians. they have just started this big counteroffensive, but they haven't got anywhere close to top gear. and if their enemy is divided, and presumably quite demoralised by what is going on back in russia, then that can only help the ukrainians. but i also heard expressions of concern, real concern,

from people who say, look, if the kremlin is cornered or divided, then who knows what could happen. perhaps they could try and trigger some kind of nuclear accident in ukrainian—occupied territory. there is a power plant there and so on, so there is a sense that anything could happen, that same jittery feeling many russians are also feeling right now. joining me now is sergey radchenko, professor of international relations atjohns hopkins university. hello and welcome to the programme. you've obviously been following the events very closely, it is a significant escalation, how significant escalation, how significant at the moment is this for president putin? i significant at the moment is this for president putin?— significant at the moment is this for president putin? i think it is a turnin: for president putin? i think it is a turning point- — for president putin? i think it is a turning point. there _ for president putin? i think it is a turning point. there is _ for president putin? i think it is a turning point. there is no - for president putin? i think it is a turning point. there is no way - for president putin? i think it is a. turning point. there is no way that putin emerges at the same out of this. he comes across as a fairly

weak president at this stage, he made a speech this morning which show that he is no longer in control of the situation in his own country. but there is an open rebellion against him. so even if this rebellion is crushed, i wonder what will happen further down the road and whether putin actually can survive this. we and whether putin actually can survive this.— and whether putin actually can survive this. ~ . , ., ., survive this. we are seeing now that some of his — survive this. we are seeing now that some of his regional— survive this. we are seeing now that some of his regional allies _ survive this. we are seeing now that some of his regional allies are - some of his regional allies are coming forward and landing him their support. we are moving into the realms of civil war there, and we? this is a big danger of course, many ukrainians may be overjoyed by this, rightly of course, if they are able to make progress with their counteroffensive. but it is also highly disturbing, if russia does fall into civil war, this is a country with nuclear weapons and civil strife there could have very unpredictable consequences. that is why it is wise to approach this issue very cautiously and be mindful

of the sheer catastrophe that could unfold. , , ., ., ~' of the sheer catastrophe that could unfold. , , ., ., ~ ., ., unfold. just looking at the leader of wagner. _ unfold. just looking at the leader of wagner, this _ unfold. just looking at the leader of wagner, this has _ unfold. just looking at the leader of wagner, this has now - unfold. just looking at the leader of wagner, this has now been . of wagner, this has now been described as a power struggle, has he always had political ambitions or is this just about the money? he is thisjust about the money? he clearl is this just about the money? he: clearly developed political ambitions in recent months and became progressively clearer that he started attacking the ministry of defence and made sound that sounded very much like they were directed against putin. people were saying at the time that this is just a game that putin is playing, playing his millions against one another. i did not think so, and i still do not think so, to me, it is clear that putin's grip on power has been weakened and this kind of challenge that was put out by prigozhin is a very real challenge for putin. i think putin was on the verge of reacting against this because there was this idea about integrating wagner into the ministry of defence and subordinating the group to the

minister of defence. i think prigozhin realise that he was whirring out of time and decided to move before he loses wagner. d0 whirring out of time and decided to move before he loses wagner. do you think mr prigozhin _ move before he loses wagner. do you think mr prigozhin is _ move before he loses wagner. do you think mr prigozhin is now— move before he loses wagner. do you think mr prigozhin is now counting - think mr prigozhin is now counting on discipline completely breaking down within the russian military, whilst president putin is looking at, as we set a short while ago, his allies? we already saw the chechen leader saying that he will be sending units. for prigozhin, where does his strength lie? let’s sending units. for prigozhin, where does his strength lie?— does his strength lie? let's be straightforward _ does his strength lie? let's be straightforward about - does his strength lie? let's be straightforward about this. - straightforward about this. prigozhin is facing a really difficult battle if he is going to capture power. i think it is highly unlikely at this stage. simply make us look at the forces that are lined up us look at the forces that are lined up against prigozhin. we have the ministry of defence, we have the fsb thatis ministry of defence, we have the fsb that is seeking his arrest and is already rated his office in saint petersburg, as we said, we've had the chechen leader who sending his troops to rostov which was captured by prigozhin just now. prigozhin

troops to rostov which was captured by prigozhinjust now. prigozhin is facing a really difficult strip go ahead, now what he does count on is that there is going to be general demoralisation within the russian armed forces. in that he will be able to win adherence our supporters within the russian military. in fact, the way that... how fast he took over rostov suggests that he has some people on the inside. people who are sympathetic to his cause. we people who are sympathetic to his cause.~ people who are sympathetic to his cause. ~ . ~' people who are sympathetic to his cause. ~ . ~ , ., cause. we were talking, i began talkin: cause. we were talking, i began talking about — cause. we were talking, i began talking about whichever - cause. we were talking, i began talking about whichever where l cause. we were talking, i began i talking about whichever where this goes, whether the offensive by wagner is quelled or not, let us just say that president putin does stop it, either way, just say that president putin does stop it, eitherway, it just say that president putin does stop it, either way, it is a moment of weakness which will not be forgotten by the russian people. it will not be and it seems likely that if putin is going to manage to put this down, he will turn to ever greater repressions to reassert his

control. we have already heard about new laws being implemented, regulation is implemented about people being detained for up to 30 daysin people being detained for up to 30 days in areas where martial law is being declared. so that sort of thing is likely to intensify, we can see putin promoting ever more draconian measures in order to stay in power. that is is sophia successful, and at this point i would not make any bets on this. can i 'ust ve would not make any bets on this. can ijust very quickly would not make any bets on this. can i just very quickly ask one would not make any bets on this. can ijust very quickly ask one more i just very quickly ask one more question? why did prigozhin essentially turn on his former protector?— essentially turn on his former rotector? ., . ., , ., , protector? prigozhin clearly has ureat protector? prigozhin clearly has great ambitions. _ protector? prigozhin clearly has great ambitions. he _ protector? prigozhin clearly has great ambitions. he wanted - protector? prigozhin clearly has - great ambitions. he wanted power. he is a guy who made a fortune working under putin and directed wagner in africa and other places, recently being involved in ukraine. but he saw this war against ukraine as an opportunity to himself above all and use of the military force at his disposal to make the bid for power.

political power comes out of a barrel of a gun, and prigozhin holds the gun. we barrel of a gun, and prigozhin holds the nun. ~ ., , ., ., the gun. we also understand that the united states — the gun. we also understand that the united states has _ the gun. we also understand that the united states has said _ the gun. we also understand that the united states has said that _ the gun. we also understand that the united states has said that the - the gun. we also understand that the united states has said that the us . united states has said that the us is to stay in close coordination with allies and made this russia crisis. in terms of russia's allies, all those nations around the world that relied on mr putin's support, they must be following events nervously?— they must be following events nervousl ? . �* ., ., nervously? there aren't all that many nations — nervously? there aren't all that many nations who _ nervously? there aren't all that many nations who are - nervously? there aren't all that many nations who are russia'sl many nations who are russia's allies. we have belarus, and of course the belarusian leadership are going to back putin to the last moment. china is going to play pragmatically, china is going to support putin for as long as putin is in power. if putin falls from

power finds himself dead, is in power. if putin falls from powerfinds himself dead, the chinese will endorse whoever comes next. that is just how they act. i don't think russia has anybody to count on frankly.— count on frankly. thank you very much indeed. _ thank you for having me. this is bbc news. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, is in moscow — he detailed the timeline of events over the last 2a hours. 16 months ago today, vladimir putin addressed the russian nation to announce the start of the so—called special military operation, the full—scale invasion of ukraine. and, at the time, he looked supremely confident. well, 16 months on, once again, president putin has addressed the russian people in very different circumstances, with russia facing an armed mutiny. and, i think, for vladimir putin, it was important to go on television, to try and show the russian people that he is in charge, that he is in control of the situation, his address was full of references to treachery, betrayal.

he described what wagner is doing as a stab in the back for the country, and the russian people. now, that is something that yevgeny prigozhin, the wagner chief, disagrees with. wagnerfighters came across ukraine into russia, they entered rostov, the big regional capital in southern russia, and have taken control of military sites there. and some reports say that they are moving north. mr prigozhin says that his beef is with the russian military, not so much with the kremlin. and it looks like he wants to topple the russian military leadership. for more on the geography of these latest developments, we can cross live now to our reporter nicky schiller who is in the newsroom. as you say, geography in understanding the story is very important so i want to give you an idea of some of the places we have been talking about over the last couple of hours. here you can see a

map of ukraine with kyiv marked and also russia with moscow and we have also russia with moscow and we have a crime yet down here. i want to draw your attention to this red area on the map. that is an area that we believe of ukraine is controlled by the russian military. that probably included the wagner mercenaries because they have been fighting the counteroffensive that has been going on in this area with ukrainian forces. the other place we have been talking about a lot, rostov—on—don. the city is about 100 kilometres from the border with ukraine and what we think has happened is the wagner mercenaries have moved out of ukraine and konta rostov—on—don. they say they have control that city. —— gone to rostov—on—don. it is where the military hq city. —— gone to rostov—on—don. it is where the military h0 is and it is where the military h0 is and it is a staging post for the army and often troops are located the before they are moved into ukraine. the wagner group say they are in control of that city. they also say they

have moved on to this city, voronezh, and the reason they have done that is by going up this m4 motorway which links rostov—on—don up motorway which links rostov—on—don up to voronezh and the bbc verify team have confirmed that video we have been showing off that fire at the oil depot there. also, bbc russian sources say the wagner mercenaries could be in control of some military sites in voronezh. why is that the city also key to wagner? if you look at the map, rostov—on—don is about halfway from moscow. the uk, the minister of defence in the uk, so probably the wagner ultimate aim is to get to moscow and they could do that using this m4 motorway which runs all the way. we think it is about an eight—hour drive to voronezh from rostov—on—don and about the same to moscow and again at the bbc verify team have confirmed there is in this region a military convoy of what we

believe to be wagner military vehicles. indeed in an area around here, the governor has told local people to stay indoors and all local transport has been cancelled in the area, so that is key in and around voronezh. if we look at google maps, we looked at the traffic parts and you can see here is voronezh and each of these little marks as either a roadblock or something wrong with the road and this is the m4 heading towards moscow. as you can see, that may well be key as the wagner forces, if they want to, make their way up from voronezh to moscow. thank you. the british government's emergency cobra committee will meet to discuss the situation in russia. prime minister, rishi sunak, has been asked about it by the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg. prime minister, what is happening in russia is clearly significant. do you think this might be a coup against vladimir putin?

we have been monitoring for a while the potentially destabilising impact of russia's illegal war in ukraine. we are keeping a close eye on the situation as it is evolving on the ground as we speak. we are in touch with our allies and i will be speaking to some of them later today. the most important thing i would say is for all parties to be responsible and to protect civilians, and that is about as much as i can say at this moment. the ministry of defence has said online this is the most significant threat to the russian state in recent times. is that right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring for a while the potential of russia's illegal invasion in ukraine to be destabilising, and you have seen the situation as it is developing. we are keeping a close eye on it and we are in touch with our allies. i will be speaking to some of them later today and the most important thing is for all parties to behave responsibly and to protect civilian lives. is it good news or bad news, that vladimir putin has been challenged? again, it is an evolving situation

and the right thing at this juncture is to make sure we are on top of it, that we are in touch with our allies, which we are, and i will be speaking to them later today, and that we call on all parties to exercise responsibility and to protect civilian lives. that is the most important thing for us in the uk to be doing. have you heard from president zelensky about what's going on? i am in touch with our allies and i will be speaking to them later today. you would expect us to be coordinated in a situation like this. it is evolving as we speak. if there are british citizens remaining in moscow, or in russia, for example we know a lot of people have left, but do you have advice for british citizens in russia? we have had long—standing travel advice against travel to russia, that is on the foreign office website. people should check that. we have long—standing advice against travel to russia for the obvious reasons, but people should keep checking the foreign office website for updates. as we've heard, president zelensky

has been reacting to events in russia, saying "russia's weakness is obvious" and that the longer russia keeps troops in ukraine, the more chaos it will see. zhanna bezpiatchuk is in kyiv — she told me more about the reaction there. first of all, what i saw in kyiv today in the morning, almost everybody was monitoring, following the news from russia. for many, many ukrainians, this scenario which is now happening, unfolding in russia was seen as realistic, is absolutely plausible. so now people do understand that these developments on the russian ground might have very high impact on the war, on the situation on the front line. and i have to acknowledge that there is a kind of hope that even potentially, hypothetically, they might mean the quick end to this war.

one of the first responses, reactions to what was called by the russian president mutiny in russia came from the secretary of the ukrainian national security council. he's one of those persons from the ukrainian government who used to command first one, the first on such things, on the first developments during this war. and he said that he thinks that it's the beginning of the self—destruction of russia, that this situation might help ukraine to regain its territories and come back to the borders of 1991. it means the regain of all territories which are occupied by russia now, including the crimea. and in general, he provided a very optimistic view of these developments in russia and the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky.

by the way, he underlined highlighted the full scale weakness of russia. so he said that the longer russia continues war on ukraine, on the ukrainian ground, the more chaos and woes it gets on its own ground. meanwhile, three people have died in the ukrainian capital, kyiv, after a 25—storey residential building was partially destroyed in what authorities have described as a "powerful night attack" of russian missiles across ukraine. mayenijones reports. when at the air strike happens, it was the middle of the night and a lot of people were fast asleep. they describe feeling confused, waking up to a loud explosion, to seeing smoke over the apartments, a lot of them live with children, these apartments are brand—new, a lot of young families that live here. they grab their kids, ran downstairs and

described seeing their cars are covered in dust and debris and immediately knew there was some sort of strike. the authorities are busy cleaning up, neighbours are also trying to recover some of their belongings. we are being told the building is not structurally safe so the public is not allowed inside. they are concerned some people may be stuck in the rubble, so a rescue operation is under way. missile strikes are common here in kyiv, ayr raid sirens can be heard almost every night, but a lot of the conflict, but the violence of it feels quite far away. the front nine is in the south and the east of the country but in this neighbourhood, the violence seen at right up to the doorstep today. you are watching bbc news. let's get some more insight into what might be happening inside the halls of the kremlin. sergey markov is a former political advisor to vladimir putin and my colleague gareth barlow and my colleague gareth barlow asked him for his reaction. asked him for his reaction.

of course, it is a really of course, it is a really negative reaction. negative reaction. in fact, we have uprisal of one of the most efficient parts of the russian army, which is this private military wagner group, it is against the president. i would say that moscow's officers in the russian army, they support yevgeny prigozhin and the wagner group, its fight in ukraine as well, but of course moscow very much disagrees with him when he opened the uprisal against defence minister sergei shoigu. it is not an uprisal against vladimir putin. yevgeny prigozhin says no—one was against vladimir putin. i think from a military point of view, now the situation is also really dangerous because the military group wagner controls something about 10,000

to 20,000 soldiers and most of them of them now in rostov city. rostov city is a very big city, more than1 million inhabitants, i've been there many times, and we know also the wagner group is very professional in fighting in arable areas. this we know from the case of the battle for bakhmut. so, to use this issue by military means is very difficult. to fight against 20,000 mostly professional soldiers who partner in rostov, the russian army needs to take from ukraine something about more than 50,000 soldiers, but the military will create a big is in the midst of an armed mutiny. opportunity for creating an army

to go forward. so it is not the solution. and now the kremlin are using another solution. it is a public statement of president putin and appeal to the soldiers of the wagner group and vladimir putin told them that you are for russia, you are not for prigozhin. he did not mention the name of prigozhin but the sense was like this. "you are not for prigozhin, you are for russia." this is absolutely impossible what you are doing. stop doing this and it is now a very dangerous situation and we need to protect now the state of the russian country. something like this. i think now it will be peaceful negotiations between the kremlin and yevgeny prigozhin. we know that yevgeny prigozhin took

control of rostov but also there are military headquarters of all ukrainian military operation exactly stay in rostov, he took controls of the building of this military headquarter but he did not create a problem for them but he planned negotiations with the defence minister. just to show you some of the pictures we have received here, they have been verified by our team. this is a convoy which appears to be carrying an air defence system moving north. this is bbc news, the headlines... wagner mercinaries seize key sites on the route to moscow — vladimir putin says russia