wagner's leader yevgeny prigozhin demands a meeting with russia's top military officials or his fighters will march on moscow. hello, welcome to our continuing coverage of the unrest in russia. fighting has broken out between wagner mercenaries and the russian military in the city of voronezh. wagner are claiming a russian helicopter opened fire on a convoy of their vehicles as it made its way towards the capital, moscow. vladimir putin says russia is facing a battle for its future in the face of an armed mutiny in the country. the president has accused the group of treason and has signed a law permitting 30—day detentions for breaking martial law in places where it has been imposed. so, here's where things are currently.

the head of the wagner mercenary group, yevgeny prigozhin, says his fighters have taken over rostov—on—don. tanks were seen in the city earlier today, which is the military command centre for the russian army's war in ukraine. then as i mentioned, wagner troops also appear to be taking action in the voronezh region, which lies half way between rostov and moscow, over 600 kilometres north on the m4 highway. there are reports of fighting between russian troops and wagner mercenaries in and around the city of voronezh. an arms dump in the city has been set on fire. voronzeh is a key city on route to moscow, just eight hours from the capital, where security has been tightened. amoured vehicles have been seen on the streets. there have also been sightings of wagner mercenary troops

in the nearby city of lipetsk. the governor has confirmed wagner troops are in the region, and ordered everyone in the city to remain indoors for their own safety. 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 reports. 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 yevgeny 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.

as we've been hearing, moscow's mayor has urged residents to limit travel and has imposed anti—terrorism rules in the city. he as announced monday will be a nonworking day and asked people to restrict their movements around the city, the capital braces for possible repercussions of the wagner rebellion. earlier, russian authorities announced a quote countertenor stop operation in the city of moscow, the moscow region and their own leisure, and region to the south, giving authorities a number of special powers including restricting the movements of people and transport, monitoring or restricting communications, the right to search people and vehicles and evacuating the population if needed. but new bring in my college. that is from the moscow mayor, a number of powers, not a surprise given what has happened but

breakdown how moscow whites will be reacting. breakdown how moscow whites will be reactinu . , breakdown how moscow whites will be reactin: . , , breakdown how moscow whites will be reactinu. , , , ., reacting. they will be short, until the last moment _ reacting. they will be short, until the last moment they _ reacting. they will be short, until the last moment they were - reacting. they will be short, until i the last moment they were isolated from the special military operation going on in ukraine, if you were to take a walk down a street in central moscow, you would hardly know what was going on. at some point in the past, moscow was inundated with advertising urging people to sign up and fight for the russian army in ukraine but apart from that, it was nothing but good news coming from the russian officials like the mayor of moscow or the president of russia. and now russia might start to wake up to the bad news that this war is for both ukraine and russia. and other debt breaking news has

just come in. the moscow region have suspended all mass outdoor events until the 1st ofjuly the until the 1st of july the authorities until the 1st ofjuly the authorities have announced following the mayor of the city as we have been talking telling everyone to refrain from travelling around the city. clamping things down. yes. refrain from travelling around the city. clamping things down. yes, the oint that city. clamping things down. yes, the point that the _ city. clamping things down. yes, the point that the authorities _ city. clamping things down. yes, the point that the authorities in - city. clamping things down. yes, the point that the authorities in moscowl point that the authorities in moscow are making is to make sure that residents of the russian capital stay indoors. in fact sergey sobyanin said on his telegram channel that please do not travel across moscow unless it's absolutely necessary. so this is what is normally done at a time of crisis when things get, can get out of hand and fighting me to erupt in the streets. this is a truly alarming development. we are also seen reports about other measures being

taken back the authorities on the approaches to the russian capital such as road blocks being set up and traffic being suspended on roads such as in the loop it's region on the way to moscow so authorities are preparing for wagner possibly trying to enter moscow. huge preparing for wagner possibly trying to enter moscow.— to enter moscow. huge number of developments. — to enter moscow. huge number of developments, we _ to enter moscow. huge number of developments, we have _ to enter moscow. huge number of developments, we have been - to enter moscow. huge number of- developments, we have been speaking about the fact that there is uncertainty at this point but not necessarily chaos and now we're hearing from the authorities in moscow, the mayer and others suspending all outdoor activities and asking mr bates to stay for their own safety. it is and asking mr bates to stay for their own safety.— their own safety. it is getting close to what _ their own safety. it is getting close to what you _ their own safety. it is getting close to what you would - their own safety. it is getting close to what you would calll their own safety. it is getting - close to what you would call chaos, not just close to what you would call chaos, notjust in russia but in terms of the war in ukraine because those

troops were fighting in ukraine, the troops were fighting in ukraine, the troops that are now going to be fighting in favour of putin against the wagner troops were fighting in ukraine. what happens on the ground there? massive uncertainty as to this position of who controls russia, massive uncertainty as to what happens with the ukrainian counteroffensive and how the russians defend themselves, fighting essentially words on a couple of fronts against a lot of adverse eddies. this is by far the worst set of geopolitical decisions any major leader has made on the global stage since the collapse of the wall in 1989 we have seen from putin in the last six months and he is increasingly in a corner irrespective of what happens to him. he acts will be of concern to everyone. he acts will be of concern to everyone-— he acts will be of concern to eve one. ., w , ., ., everyone. how he acts and how he comes back _

everyone. how he acts and how he comes back from _ everyone. how he acts and how he comes back from this _ everyone. how he acts and how he comes back from this regardless . everyone. how he acts and how he | comes back from this regardless of what happens to prigozhin, how does he consolidate power after this when my colleague was just saying that people in moscow are under the impression there is a special military operation going on over there but everything in russia itself is fine so they would be waking up to a sense of shock and disbelief that there is infighting like this? , ., ., ~' disbelief that there is infighting like this? , ., ., ~ , like this? they do not think it is fine, like this? they do not think it is fine. keep _ like this? they do not think it is fine. keep in — like this? they do not think it is fine, keep in mind _ like this? they do not think it is fine, keep in mind we _ like this? they do not think it is fine, keep in mind we have - like this? they do not think it is fine, keep in mind we have had| like this? they do not think it is l fine, keep in mind we have had in all likelihood well over 100,000 casualties fighting along the lines from russia and those young men are coming back injured or dead and there are families and communities that are deeply unhappy about that, the fact they don't express that in the fact they don't express that in the increasingly police state of russia does not mean it is fine. the economy has managed recently reasonably well but the security situation has not. on top of that

you have an internal eruption and let's remember the wagner group with tens of thousands of russian mercenaries has been lionised. it can go around the country you see billboards in favour of wagner, ec state russian media talking about the wagner group having some of the few successes the russians have had on the ground and now you see president putin coming out and saying that these are traitors against the russian state and have to be destroyed. this is a horrible position, even for a propagandist like putin with complete control over the information space there is no way for him to spin this and that is before you get to the challenges he is going to have to explain away on the ground, ukraine as a consequence of not being able to fight that war he is in a great deal of trouble and also controls largest nuclear arsenal in the world. we do not want a rogue state like russia

with that kind of instability, that is precisely what we have. the other oint is is precisely what we have. the other point is this — is precisely what we have. the other point is this is _ is precisely what we have. the other point is this is all _ is precisely what we have. the other point is this is all his _ is precisely what we have. the other point is this is all his creation, - point is this is all his creation, he created the group and all of these institutions, this is all part of how he does business.- of how he does business. that's riuht. of how he does business. that's right- the _ of how he does business. that's right. the wagner _ of how he does business. that's right. the wagner group - of how he does business. that's right. the wagner group does l of how he does business. that's l right. the wagner group does not have reporting lines up through the russian ministry defence, they are independent and prigozhin as the ceo of a corporation that owns these trips reports directly up to putin. to the extent they have fallen out, putin owns it, it is has direct responsibility, nobody else, you cannot blame anyone else, it is his fault, it is not like the initial military defeats in ukraine he can take his minister of defence and others and string them up, the severity, is a very different story but it also means mr prigozhin and

his wagner supporters do not have political influence inside the inner circle in the kremlin. indeed for the last 1.5 years they have been increasingly critical except for putin so it is very unlikely that prigozhin has, is going to be able to coordinate with some kind of internal group on that front there is probably more stability around. it is coming to about 7:15pm in russia. we are getting reports that throughout the david wagner trips appear to have been moving north towards moscow. the other big is when they get there what happens and what does the army do. keep when they get there what happens and what does the army do.— what does the army do. keep in mind in moscow you _ what does the army do. keep in mind in moscow you have _ what does the army do. keep in mind in moscow you have special— what does the army do. keep in mind in moscow you have special forces - in moscow you have special forces that again are not part of the traditional army. they report up to putin so the expectation highly trained will fight, putin understands lots of people would

like to take them out and there are plenty of ways they try to ensure mr putin assuming he is still in moscow right now, has the ability to fend them off. the russians of course have control of the air force and we have control of the air force and we have seen some of that deployed against prigozhin�*s forces on the way up towards moscow, a few aircraft shot down, they have some aircraft shot down, they have some air defence missiles capabilities but the russians can certainly deploy that with impunity against prigozhin as he gets closer so i hate to say it but we are going to see a lot of violence. i suspect if this is over quickly, it is over quickly because prigozhin is captured and killed. if it is not over quickly it is because there is a serious fight going on in this get very ugly in russia. i a serious fight going on in this get very ugly in russia.— very ugly in russia. i suppose the other question _ very ugly in russia. i suppose the other question is _ very ugly in russia. i suppose the other question is with _ very ugly in russia. i suppose the other question is with so - very ugly in russia. i suppose the other question is with so much i very ugly in russia. i suppose the i other question is with so much focus internally on this crisis, obviously this counteroffensive in ukraine has been going on, i was there last weekend we spoke to president

zelensky, this obviously distracts from russia's there? i zelensky, this obviously distracts from russia's there?— from russia's there? i think the abili of from russia's there? i think the ability of russia _ from russia's there? i think the ability of russia to _ from russia's there? i think the ability of russia to continue - from russia's there? i think the | ability of russia to continue that the fight effectively and defend in ukraine has just taken a massive hit. it has not been going very well, they have lost a lot of material, the russians are fatter withdraw the wagner forces, the best trained and the want to have taken a bit of territory in the last month, other forces are coming back to fight against the wagner forces naming the remaining russian troops badly immortalised with very poor equipment are going to be stretched very, very thin against ukrainians that are fighting to retake their land, higher morale, good training, great intelligence, advanced weapons. so that is great news for ukraine, they should now be able to retake significant amounts of their territory. but that also means we're getting close to some of putin's

stated red lines like to defend crimea, like the maintenance of the land bridge from russia to crimea, what happens if they are able to accomplish that? how does putin embattled at home and abroad, no allies around the world, how does he respond to that? what sort of escalation might he take? as the leader of russia who believes he is losing because he is fighting all of nato notjust ukraine, might he expand that war? what efforts might he take in cyber attacks on critical infrastructure attacks and espionage against front line states like poland for example, the baltic states, what might you do in ukraine? we have heard all of these reports about mining the largest nuclear plant in russia. is he going to allow ukrainians to reoccupy that or will he destroy it? is a horrible things to think about but they are absolutely in play given what has

happened in russia right now. find happened in russia right now. and critical. some _ happened in russia right now. and critical. some more news coming in and i will keep you there. we're being told that president and vice president harris were briefed by the national security team about the latest developments in russia and they will continue to be briefed throughout the day by the likes of jake sullivan and secretary antony blinken. the united states is cautiously moving here, we have not had any statements from the president or his national security team, they are watching and assessing before they make any sort of judgment assessing before they make any sort ofjudgment calls on all of this because as you see all of those questions you have posed are the things that everyone is thinking about. xi? things that everyone is thinking about. . ., things that everyone is thinking about. . . ,, ., , about. xp clear, the united states is not exactly _ about. xp clear, the united states is not exactly rooting _ about. xp clear, the united states is not exactly rooting for— about. xp clear, the united states is not exactly rooting for prigozhinj is not exactly rooting for prigozhin to remove putin. he is no friend of the united states, he is a war criminal himself many times over. he is more aligned towards fascism and

neo—nazis than putin is so this is not a case where the enemy of my enemy is my friend. everybody here heats prigozhin as well. the americans will be trying to ensure nato allies have the same information and that their statements are in lockstep and also that they remain calm and there are no steps taken in the fog of war that could be perceived as a provocation. that could lead to instability and escalation, we cannot forget that russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. putin tries to make sure we remember it but it's not putin using them, it is what happens if russia starts to breakdown. you do not want to take any steps as nato to make the situation more dangerous. goad the situation more dangerous. good to net our the situation more dangerous. good to get your analysis _ the situation more dangerous. good to get your analysis and _ the situation more dangerous. good to get your analysis and assessments on these things. thank you so much forjoining us. as we have heard a

moscow mayor has limited travel and impose anti—terrorism rules. let's look at some of these pictures that have come in. these pictures taken inside the tretyakov gallery in the russian capital show people being evacuated. other public places including the pushkin museum, the tretyakov gallery, the hpp—2 museum, the mega belaya dacha shopping center, and the kvartal shopping center have also been evacuated. as sense of confusion. mercenaries have slowly inched their way towards the capital making their way north and we are watching those developments but we are also seeing residents being urged to limit travel and that anti—terrorism rules had been imposed which gives the state at certain set of powers and they have said monday as a nonworking day. the mayor of moscow has urged people to stay indoors, or large public events have been cancelled untiljuly one. lots of different movement taking place at the moment but let's bring in our

correspondent. live now to warsaw to our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford. you are pushed out of moscow in a special military operation took place in so much pressure put on journalists and correspondent, there is currently no real free press inside of russia at present. it is very difficult. — inside of russia at present. it is very difficult, that _ inside of russia at present. it is very difficult, that is _ inside of russia at present. it 3 very difficult, that is for sure, i was expelled six month before the war which was i guess a fairly early warning shot in terms of the war against the media. certainly the independent press, the russian press within the country has been forced out. particularly before the media. correspondent, most foreign journalists chose to leave the country after the war street journal journalist was accused of treason. it is an extremely difficult place to get verified information. as this

enormous event unfolds inside russia, we are left relying an awful lot on what is coming out over social media and what people on the ground are reporting but are not journalists. it is difficult and thatis journalists. it is difficult and that is a product of vladimir putin's 20 years of rule, and crushing the media and squashing the free press one of his priorities. certainly this is a really significant challenge, seeing those pictures for what they are, the pictures for what they are, the pictures we can see coming out and hearing about what has happened in russia it is hard to overestimate the significance. share russia it is hard to overestimate the significance.— russia it is hard to overestimate the significance. are you speaking to colleagues. _ the significance. are you speaking to colleagues, friends, _ the significance. are you speaking to colleagues, friends, colleagues inside the country? are they telling you what they are thinking and feeling, as this all unfold? {line you what they are thinking and feeling, as this all unfold? one of the interesting _ feeling, as this all unfold? one of the interesting aspects _ feeling, as this all unfold? one of the interesting aspects in - feeling, as this all unfold? one of the interesting aspects in this - feeling, as this all unfold? one of the interesting aspects in this is l the interesting aspects in this is the interesting aspects in this is the way that those fagnes troops, the way that those fagnes troops, the message have been met in rostov,

that city close to ukraine down in the south of russia where neil wagner troops and prigozhin rocked up wagner troops and prigozhin rocked up last night, we saw those extraordinary pictures of him sitting down with russian military seniorfigures and sitting down with russian military senior figures and holding sitting down with russian military seniorfigures and holding court inside the headquarters of russia's operations against the people running the war in ukraine and in rostov itself we can see all davey�*s weird pictures of wagner mercenaries on the streets buying coffee and eating ice cream, talking to the locals. it has been quite an odd thing to wrap your head around that these are the people who appear to be standing up against the defence ministry causing what has been defined as a military mutiny inside russia and yet in rostov itself they appear to have been seen as allies almost so i think there is a sense

in which that is reflected and where vladimir putin was speaking addressing the nation today because he was not snarling and spitting fire and brimstone, he did of course talking about being stabbed in the back, he talked about betrayal but he also referred to the wagner fighters as heroes because of course they have been fighting the war that vladimir putin started in ukraine and for many russians they will also be seen as they are people on their side in that war so it's a very complicated picture and i think it is going to be really important to see how these wagner fighters are met further up, much further up the road as they reach the russian capital. i road as they reach the russian caital. ., road as they reach the russian caital. . ., ., ., , capital. i am going to ask my director and _ capital. i am going to ask my director and the _ capital. i am going to ask my director and the team - capital. i am going to ask my director and the team to - capital. i am going to ask my director and the team to line | capital. i am going to ask my i director and the team to line up that video of prigozhin meeting the senior defence ministry people and we will bring that to you a little later because i do want us to play that. just this sense that he was holding court. we have about a minute left but i want to get your

assessment watching from warsaw the developments in russia, a city and country you know and love so well, your final thoughts. country you know and love so well, yourfinalthoughts. i country you know and love so well, your final thoughts.— your final thoughts. i think this is a key moment. — your final thoughts. i think this is a key moment, we _ your final thoughts. i think this is a key moment, we have - your final thoughts. i think this is a key moment, we have to - your final thoughts. i think this is - a key moment, we have to remember that you give me prigozhin is a creature of the kremlin, basically enabled by putin to do a lot of the kremlin�*s dirty work and now he is leading this armed mutiny against putin and there is really no clear sign actually of where it goes next. thank you so much. some lines continue to come into us

here in to the bbc news ring and we have broken the story that the moscow mayor has asked for people to remain indoors. we also know that the moscow region has suspended all mass outdoor events until the 1st of july, the mayor has asked people not to travel around the city so we're watching all of those developments here very closely but let's go to my colleague who joins us from the newsroom. over to you. let's remind ourselves of the journey that wagner forces have made over the last 24—hour is. this red patch here is areas of ukraine which are controlled by russian forces. crimea at the bottom which of course russia annexed back in 2014, if you cast your mind back you may remember it began with stories of little green men in the area in military uniform, it is widely accepted that many amongst those ranks went on to

become wagnerfighters, many amongst those ranks went on to become wagner fighters, so well—known in this part of the world. rostov—on—don is a key city here, kilometres from this area, the ukrainian border and that is where yevgeny prigozhin took his forces to last night. it is important to remind ourselves that he said he was able to take rostov—on—don with his forces quote without firing a single shot. they then made their way north on this m4 road towards the city of voronezh, that was not such a smooth operation, they said they came under russian air strikes including by helicopter gunships, he did not provide any evidence for that but said that's what happened. the key thing about this city is that it is halfway between rostov—on—don and moscow, 500 kilometres to voronezh and 500 more to moscow as you can see only map there. we had from the governor in lipetsk earlier on, he said he had seen wagnerfighters in

his area quote moving military equipment into the area, they certainly are known to be in that area and we have recently heard from the governor of the kahl a province, he said that he has locked down travel in his area, of course the key thing about this as you can see is just how close this is to moscow. from there to moscow, we're talking 200 kilometres. as i said, we have seen evidence of wagner fighters in voronezh, that halfway mark, we have heard from the governor of the pets saying the wagner fighters have been moving military equipment into that area as well but the news coming out that they are locking people down, restricting travel really suggests there is this our knees, this nervousness that wagner fighters might soon be making their way into kaluga and as i say, only 200 kilometres to moscow. to ahead of british time, we're talking about coming onto 7:30pm tonight around

9:30pm local time, so these last whoever is of daylight on saturday evening left in moscow. a very tense time in the area. we have heard from the mayor of moscow as well that people's movements restricted in the city itself. much more i'm sure on this to come over the last few hours. you cannot course keep up with all the latest on this on the bbc news website and the bbc news website and the bbc news app. lots and folding. we have seen bbc news website and the bbc news app. lots and folding. we have seen wagnerfighters heading wagnerfighters heading app. lots and folding. we have seen app. lots and folding. we have seen wagner fighters heading from this wagner fighters heading from this area, 500 kilometres, 500 more to area, 500 kilometres, 500 more to moscow. much more honest still to moscow. much more honest still to come. stick with us on bbc news. come. stick with us on bbc news. this is bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: the headlines: vladimir putin says russia is facing vladimir putin says russia is facing a battle for its future — a battle for its future — in the face of what he called in the face of what he called an "armed mutiny" in the country. an "armed mutiny" in the country. a convoy of wagner mercinary a convoy of wagner mercinary fighters appears to be fighters appears to be heading for moscow — heading for moscow — after launching a rebellion after launching a rebellion

against the russian military. against the russian military. with the convoy reportedly a few hundred kilometres south of the russian capital — heavy security measures are imposed