hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the

united states, canada, and all around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. i want to get to our breaking news this hour out of russia. vladimir putin is issuing a blunt warning to wagner mercenaries following their pushback in southwestern russia. he said the mercenaries backstabbed the country with what he called an armed rebellion and made it clear their move will be punished sand said russia is facing what he described as an existential battle. >> translator: i address the citizens of russia and those fighting in their combat positions to repel enemy attacks. they're doing so heroically knowing that i spoke to the commanders in all directions tonight. i also appeal to those who have been led by the threats into this criminal adventure and pushed into the path of the severe crime of armed insurrection.

russia today is fighting an uphill battle for its future against the aggressions of the nazis and their masters. virtually the information machine of the west is directed against us. we are fighting for the life and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to be and remain russia as a state with a thousand years of history. >> earlier vladimir's leader said his mercenaries took control of military facilities in cities on dawn and threatened to move on to moscow if top military leaders don't meet with him. he's calling it the most significant challenge in recent times. russia is announcing the creation of an anti-terrorist regime in moscow. officials are also advising drivers to avoid a major highway in southern russia that's being used by convoys.

cnn correspondents are covering all the angles. nic robertson is in london and ben wedeman is standing by in zaporizhzhia, ukraine. let's beginning with the latest from ivan watson in hong kong. >> vladimir putin made it very clear this armed uprising by yevgeny prigozhin and his mercenaries, he said this was like 1917 when the rebellion erupted and overthrew the czar in world war i and started a war. he vowed to punish the people behind the mutiny. take a listen to what else he said.

>> translator: i repeat, any internal turmoil is a mortal threat to our statehood, to us as a nation this. is a blow to russia, to our people. so our actions to defend the fatherland against such a threat will be severe. . all of those who pchose the pat will face inevitable punishment. >> putin went on to say they were adopted counterterrorism measures in the capital of moscow and some other regions, and so we think that is going to be increased scrutiny, perhaps check points on roads. things like that. more skort forces out and about. he conceded the situation was complicated, that the civilian and military command there had been blockaded, but he said this would change. the question is what measures are going to be taken because

evgeni prigozhin by his own statements is all in. he said he -- and he claims some 20,000 fighters are ready to die for their cause. he began this basically invading russia from ukraine where his forces have been fighting for months now, invading that southern province apparently without a shot of taking control over russia's military command. take a listen to what he said before vladimir putin. >> translator: we are at headquarters at 7:30 a.m. military facilities including the air are under our control. planes that leave for combat work as usual. no problems. medical fights are leaving as usual. all we did was attack so they would not strike us but strike in the ukrainian direction. >> prigozhin had himself filmed

alongside senior military leaders. they looked almost like hostages surrounded by prigozhin and his armed men. he was demanding that the chief of the staff be delivered to him as well as the defense secretary, defense minister rather sergei, and he said until that happened he would blockade and also move on moscow. he had claimed to take over an air base. wagner has since claimed to have taken over some miss tmilitary sites. we know the government in the province has ordered people to stay away from the highway. there have been reports unconfirmed of clashes taking place around there. this is a very tense and fragile moment because initially

prigozhin was basically declaring war on senior russian military commanders, accusing them on corruption and bad management of the war in ukraine. now putin has stepped it up and declared war effectively on prigozhin himself. it will be a question, could we see a confrontation? wagner mercy nairs have been in the trenches for months fighting the ukraine's military. i cannot imagine what would happen if such a conflict were to erupt. >> exactly. thanks so much. ivan watson in hong kong. i appreciate that. i want to bring in cnn d international diplomatic

reporter. what's the situation? >> macron is watching the situation. the german chancellor is watching the situation. the prime minister in poland has met with his defense minister and spoken with allies. everyone within approximately of russia to the west of russia is watching very closely. there is huge concern. the situation as we heard is without recent historic precedence. so the dynamic here cannot be predicted. .it can become a direct confrontation on the streets with a bloody and difficult outcome. what becomes clear is if putin doesn't rest control of the situation quickly, he is going to look weak. we were speaking in the last hour about one of putin's biggest military backers and supporters, the chechen leader,

what was his position going to be. well, he appears to have made that clear now, and he appears to be saying -- and the translation of what he said has to be thorough o'ly scrutinized -- but he called prigozhin let's moves treachery. he has the strong and firm backing, which is important. but the question becomes for putin and obviously all of those nations watching the situation in russia how many of the military are going to side with prigozhin. prigozhin is very good about creating a lot of noise and putting out strong messaging. a deputy defense minister lost his job and became a senior official for wagner. prigozhin has attended to ingender, it appears, close loyalty from fighters who are

close to him. so the question will be how large is that. to prigozhin's point, the defense minister, the army chief of staff have not prosecuted the war well. it's caused the high and unnecessary loss of life of russian fighters. and this is what prigozhin has been saying. that was not addressed by president putin. so i think there will be a lot of people looking at this and saying how he handles this phase. he's enabling through counterterrorism, legislation, crackdown on anyone siding with prigozhin, but the actual accusation that this is a war being fought badly and perhaps should be ended, which is a very dangerous proposition for president putin, that has not been answered by putin today.

the dynamics of what happens next is going to be so closely watched by all of these countries with a vested interest in russia's stability. >> nik, on that, one could argue that exposing the central lie of the war, putin's rationale for the so-called operation is almost as dangerous as any military action. what do you think that will have on putin's grip and russians themselves, the more than 200,000 who have lost loved ones? >> the key for putin all along is maintaining the narrative. the strength of the narrative, controlling the narrative. he's been very slow to deal with prigozhin, but the narrative is still in court on this. prigozhin has been effective on social media, and we're witnessing the abilities of

prigozhin to get his message out, however, as long as the state media institutions are effectively behind putin, which they are at the moment, then putin's messaging wins out, and i think, you know, as long as -- as long as the state organs stay behind putin, putin still remains in control and power, but how does he stand side by side with sergei shoigu, the defense minister? for a long time putin has been allowed prigozhin to speak out against shoigu. these strong military men have been put in place by putin, but putin has been allowing them to be criticized heskly. it's only when prigozhin has stepped over the line by questioning the war and putting his troops on the streets that

the situation has riis on the this level. how are those defense chiefs going to respond to putin when prigozhin is out of the picture? you know, putin's own power, his ability to wield power, his ability to have influence over the war on ukraine, those things will be called into question. if you remember to go back to t ukrainians, they retreated. the reason why they retrited is the military got control of the take ticks on the ground from putin and said it didn't make military sense to stay and keep forces over the dnipro river and pulled them all back. so if the military have a stronger say in how the war plays out, this will affect putin, because if putin doesn't achieve his aims in crew krarngs then his term and leadership would seem to be over very quickly. >> all right, fascinating. nic robertson in london.

thank you so much. for more now on how those developments could affect ukraine, we're joined by ben wedeman in zaporizhzhia. >> reporter: it may be too early, kim, to celebrate. certainly they're transfixed by what they're seeing going on in russia. we've heard from an adviser to the ukrainian presidency saying that the ukrainian counteroffensive has destabilized the russian elites, exacerbating internal divisions caused by russian defeats on the battlefield and certainly what we've seen is that since russia lauched its invasion of ukraine, full-scale invasion back in february of last year, the military performance by the russians has been largely a failure, and, therefore, what

we're seeing, for instance, with prigozhin's mercenaries now in control of rostov, the entire military is up in the air. keep it mind it is ooh the headquarters of the southern military district. it's a strategic command center for russian forces in southern ukraine. with prigozhin in control, it's not at all clear who controls russian forces in southern ukraine and how they're going to respond if ukrainians launch the bulk of their forces against russian lines. now, i can tell you, kim, yesterday we were in an area south of here where we saw a huge number of troops, of western equipment, of logistical support primed to launch a major counteroffensive. what we've seen until now is fairly small advances by ukrainian forces. they've taken just eight really

small villages. villages is perhaps an overstatement of the kind of communities that are down there. but certainly ukrainians, this is a golden moment, perhaps a game-changer for ukrainians as they are prepared to really carry this counter offensive through. so the ukrainians really are watching what's going on in the kremlin where it seems to be in a situation of chaos to see whether this is really their golden moment to take full advantage of instability among the ranks of the russian military and the political elite as well. kim? >> ben, beyond the battlefield, is there any sense in ukraine now, any optimism maybe that is correct this might provide some in-seasontive for putin to come to the table for real negotiations? >> i think coming to the table for putin is at this moment probably not his top priority.

i think putin's top priority now is to try to re-establish his authority since he's got on the one hand prigozhin who has led perhaps the most effective military force in the war here pitted against the entire military establishment of the defense -- of the ministry of defense and, therefore, really, it's a question of can he hold on to power long enough to perhaps somewhere down the line come to the table. but at the moment, i think his real preoccupation is just maintaining his throne, let alone pursuing any diplomatic or military initiatives when it comes to ukraine. kim? >> absolutely, all right. ben wedeman in zaporizhzhia. thank you so much. well, this all comes as fighting is still raging across ukraine. officials there say their air

tee fence system has destroyed 20 missiles overnight in kyiv. at least eight people were killed and 20 injured following aen attack. another three people died following russian shelling in the south. in the east, forces say russia's main focus is still on the donetsk region, but they're claiming to have repulsed several officials, and another says kyiv's counteroffensive hasn't started yet and they still have other operations in store. still ahead, answers in the "titan" submersible tragedy. what we're learning what went wrong and when. stay with us. at morgan stanley, old school hard work meets bold, new thinking, ♪ to helelp you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real. ♪

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we're turning to our top story this hour. russia says it will carry out counterterrorist operations in response to what it called an armed revolt by mercenary chief yevgeny prigozhin, and in his address to the nation, he condemned the leader and promised to punish those who,

quote, deliberately went on the path of treason. here he is. >> translator: we are fighting for the life and sovereignty, for the right to be in a state with a thousand years of history. >> all this comes as prigozhin says he's carrying out, quote, a march of justice for allegedly killing many of his mercenaries in a strike, a claim the ministry denies. earlier prigozhin said his forces seized several military facilities in russia. here he is. >> translator: we are at headquarters at 7:30 a.m. military facilities in rostov are under our control. planes that leave for combat leave as usual, no problems. medical flights are leaving as usual. all we did was take control so the attack aviation would not strike us but strike in the

ukrainian direction. >> the u.s. and canada have each announced investigations into the "titanic" loss of the submersible and five people on board. search teams have been scouring the floor and to establish a timeline of what went wrong. ocean gait's co-founder said people shouldn't rush to judgment. jason carroll has the latest on the wreckage site. >> reporter: these are some of the first images of the remotely operated vehicles that found portions of the "titan's" hull and on a new mission to map the debris site. the rovs will seek to find more. the submersible lost contact with the surface one hour and 45 minutes on sunday. >> the other thing is i heard

p.h. contacted them and said we're dropping and returning to the surface quickly. >> reporter: oceangate did not ask what gallo had heard. they look at the testing on f the materials used to make the hole. a cnn reviews while oceangate publicly touted a commitment to safety measures it rejected industry standards that would have posed greater scrutiny on its operations and vessels. >> special crew members safely diving to the ti"titanic" site. >> reporter: they touted an unforgettable and safe voyage. it also featured paul h. nargeolet, one of the passengers on board. >> it's very well done.

it's simple. nargeolet has a lot of equipment. on this one you don't have it because you work with a screen and a keyboard and it's very easy to do that. >> reporter: cnn also learned two former oceangate employees separately voiced safety concerns about the design of the "titan." oceangate has not responded to cnn about those claims, and in 2019, lloyd's register, a marine certificate fe indication company, de-klained a request from oceangate to certify the "titan." the company has not said why. oceangate's co-founder left in 2013, cautioned against rushing to judgment. >> there are teams on-site that will be collecting data for the next few weeks, days, months, and it's going to be a long time before we know what happened down there. >> reporter: both the ntsb and the canadian transportation safety board say they have launched investigations into what happened down there. also the coast guard has

declared the loss of the "titan" to be a major marine casualty. jason carroll, cnn, boston. still ahead, much more on the crisis in russia. an expert on defensive strategies weighs on yevgeny prigozhin's actions and the government's response, blue the turmoil in russia's exposing the cracks in putin's powewer. that's next. stay with us.

welcome back to all of you watching us in the united states, canada, and around the

world. chechen leader has condemned what he called a trej russ march by mercenary chief yevgeny prigozhin and pledged his support to the russian president. in a speech to the nation russian accused him and promised punishment to anyone who went on a path to treason. >> this is a blow to the people. a threat against our fatherland will be dealt with. they will face inevitable punish money and will answer to the law and to our people. the necessary orders have been issued to the armed forces and other government agencies and additional anti-terrorist measures are being issued. decisive action will also be taken to stabilize the region in

rostov-on-don. >> all of this comes after prigozhin claimed to have seized several facilities from the russian military. one of them is in rostov-on-don right next to ukraine. he said they killed many of his forces in a striking smug the russians deny. joining us is our next guest. thank you so much for joining us here. i want to start with prigozhin. he said he intends to roll on moscow. what do you think his aims are here? >> well, clearly his initial aim was to essentially challenge and attack the russian ministry of defense leadership. sergei shoigu in particular, to hold them to justice.

as he put it, it's a march for justice is what he's calling this. but it now seems that his aims are expanding because president putin's speech earlier this evening has basically challenged prigozhin, branded him a criminal, and so prigozhin has come back and said, well, we'll have a new president soon enough. so that suggests to me his aims are expanding. sees this as a direct challenge to the putin regime, and that does suggest he needs to actually march on moscow to achieve that. the question in my mind is how practical is that, given the size of his forces, and does he have assistance along the way, and in particular does he have supporters in moscow that could make a march on moscow achievable? >> so i want to ask you. he's called for russian soldiers to join forces.

do you think that this could turn into something larger, a coup? >> i think it could. particularly you look at the rank and file, in other words, the lower level soldiers in the ranks, the noncommissioned officers, the junior officers, he's never going to really get that much support from the seen your leadership, but certainly the grunts on the ground who have been in the thick of it, fighting ukraine, i think, could potentially move to his side, in which case a prigozhin/wagner force could expand in size and capability, and it might make it easier for them to move north from rostov-on-don and then to moscow. i think that is his plan, to try

and grow his force so he has a greater chance of ultimately moving on moscow. >> i mean, how realistic is that? he's still a long way from moscow, and putin has the entire power of the entire russian military at his disposal. >> well, rostov-on-don is only a 15-hour drive to moscow, which in the scheme of maneuver warfare is not a hume distance. he's already fighting -- he's got forces fighting . the next city is moscow. it's how many forces he can get, switch to his side, how quickly he can expand his force, how much support he'll get. quite likely moscow would be in the russian military that would be assisting him, so that could make it easier for him to get to moscow. then, of course, we're talking about the potential risk of major fighting on the streets.

those forces loyal to putin are on the other. that, i think, is where we talk about the prospect of civil war. it gets to that point where you've got fighting in moscow. i think at that point we're at civilian war. >> it's a frightening prospect. you talked about support for prigozhin. i mean, what role do you think the oligarchs and elites may be playing behind the scenes? >> we're talking about the oligarch and the intelligence and security elite. they're watching what's happening with ukraine. they're clearly seeing the writing on the wall that essentially russia is not winning this war and could quite easily lose this war, and if anything, the prigozhin uprising is making a russian defeat more likely because it could open up opportunities for ukrainians to

exploit gaps in the russian defenses there. so the sill byky and oligarchs will be thinking about how do they protect their interests, how do they protect their wealth, their position, their power? if they can't predict it through putin, they would seek to have another leader come in that would replace putin. i don't think it would be prigozhin, but it could be someone from the shadows that would come in that would be loyal to the silibiki and the oligarchs and protect them in return for giving them access to the top job and putin, well, he would be finished. i think that's where you have to look in terms of who is the puppet masters here, who is pulling the strings. it could be that putin is facing his own demise. and so we're now in a desperate struggle in between on the one hand putin who's seeking to hold onto his own personal well being

and prigozhin's forces that, shall we say, have some sort of assistance from within the russian military if the russians feel they have futures better held if prigozhin succeeds. >> for putin, then, clearly needing allies t fact that the chechen leader has declared his allegiance in this time of need, how important is that for putin? >> it's really the early days yet. he's just equated we don't know how many forces they would bling to the table. but certainly the chechens have a reputation as ruthless fighters, and, therefore, i think that's a disturbing development. let's be clear. there's no potential follow-on leader after putin wl, whether s prigozhin or someone else of the

oligarchs or the chechen era, there are none of them friend throw the west. they're all hard-lined national lists. i'm not seeing any happy endings in terms of an ends in moscow that ultimately leads to a new leadership that wants to end the war in ukraine and resfor relations with the west. that's not happening. so ultimately we could be facing an uncertain future. >> frightening implications there. i really appreciate your analysis on this developing story. malcolm davis, thanks so much. >> thank you. we'll be right back. avoiding triggers, but still get migraine attacks? qulipta™ can help prevent migraine attacks. qulipta gets right t to work. keeps attatacks away over time. qulipta isis a preventive treatment for episodic migraine. most common side effects are nausea, constipationon, and tiredness. ask your doctor about qulipta.

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i want to bring you updates on russia. the mercenaries claim they took control of military facilities in two cities in the southwest and their leader yevgeny prigozhin is threatening to continue on to moscow if top military leaders don't meet with him. but in his address this morning, president vladimir putin called that an armed rebellion and said it would be punished. security has been stepped up in moscow where officials are carrying out what they call anti-terrorism measures. a russian intelligence official said prigozhin's actions amount to a coup. >> translator: only a president has the right. if you're trying to encroach on his authority, this is a coup d'etat. there's no need do this now. there's no greater damage to russia and its armed forces. >> what do we know about the

leader of the wagner private military company? let's bring in salma abdelaziz. >> he is now very much the thorn in his side. he came from the same humble beginnings as president putin in st. petersburg. he led to the empire. it was really the invasion of crimea in 2014 when he began to rise to prominence as the head of the wagner military group. he then used that group essentially as putin's private army, carrying out his bidding. all of that was done behind the iron kur tin without yevgeny prigozhin taking any credit at all. it was not until the ukraine invasion he stepped out into the

limelight and did it as loudly and antagonistically as he could. showing up time and time again, calling out russia's military leadership, essentially starting a war of words with the defense minister of russia, saying he should be tried for failing his own people. and in these messages, he's not just speaking to his own mercenary group. he was talking to the russian public at large. that's why so many for months have asked the question why has president putin to allow this man not just to rise to a level of prominence, but rise to a level of dissent, airing russia's dirty laundry right on those lines. have an answer. putin has accused yevgeny prigozhin guilty of treason and he will be held accountable. is it too late to detain a man

who says he has 25,000 soldiers, mercenaries armed to defend and protect him and take control of the land in the south of russia. this is a huge and complicated challenge for president putin, and it's playing out in front of everybody's eyes. >> the whole world watching. sell mark it might be hard to predict at this point, but what could be prigozhin's fate here? >> it is absolutely hard to predict. this is an unprecedented situation. president putin himself invoked history dating back over a hundred years when talking about this situation, likening it to a rebellion, a coup, an attempt to overthrow the authority of russia. that means he absolutely must respond with force. but, again, what does that look like when you have yevgeny prigozhin hole holed up again in rostov with his soldiers, with his men ready to defend him, and how does president putin now

turn to the russian military and the top military brass leaders he allowed to be publicly antagonized and humiliated in front of prigozhin in the coming days. what is most concerning, i think, is, of course t possibility of this turning bloody. yevgeny prigozhin seems all in. he's raided across the border, entered russian territory, taken control of the city and said he's willing to do anything to defend himself and his group. is the russian military willing to do the same? one can only assume so. does that mean russians fighting russians on russian soil in the coming days? all of this, of course, pushes the ukraine war in the background when we're speaking about president putin simply trying to defend his throne. >> you're exactly right. we will be right back. please stay with us.

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all right. a quick update on our breaking story out of russia where the governor of the southern region says the russian military is carrying out necessary combat operations in the region. it comes as videos geo located to a highway there shows wagner fighters and vehicles. this is after a military pushback by wagner mercenaries and he said they would be punished. he also said the very existence of russia is on the line. here he is. >> translator: we are fighting for the life and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to be and remain russia as a state with a thousand years of history. >> wagner mercenaries claim they took control of facilitying in the southwest, but one region says they're carrying out anti-terrorism combat operations

and also yevgeny prigozhin is threatening to continue on to moscow if top military leaders don't meet with him. a major chechen leader is condemning prigozhin calling it a vile betrayal. >> reporter: he's long been a well-known mercenary leader around the world. now yevgeny prigozhin is a wanted man in russia as well. his often merciless groups of fighters is positional the russian military leadership and he's moscow's public enemy number one. putin is calling for his group to lay down their arms. >> translator: all of those who chose the path of treachery, armed mutiny and terrorism will face punishment and will answer both to the law and to our people. >> reporter: he may be something now of something to a nemesis to vladimir putin, but it was his

decades-long relationship with the russian president that allowed prigozhin to establish his own militia, the wagner group. wagner served as a private army, doing controversial jobs that often not even russia's military could go. prigozhin, a former prisoner himself and a hard-style man from st. petersburg, he enriched himself. rights groups have accused wagner of horrific violence, like this, of wagner violence smashing the feet and hands of a syrian prisoner with a sledge ham never 2017. the man reportedly died after his ordeal. the images are incredibly disturbing like so many others attributed to his group. a master of myth making it was prigozhin and wagner who set up

the notorious troll form to set up the disinformation around the 2016 presidential u.s. election. but when his footers took to the battlefield in eastern ukraine and began winning battles, prigozhin seemed to want the spotlight. >> the bakhmut operation began on octoberth, 2022, in order to give the embattled russians to recover. we gave them 22 days. there were only private force here. >> reporter: his tactics included flinging the so called poorly trained troops into the meat grinder. prigozhin rubbed his victories in the face of russia's flailing defense department, venting his fury at the haphazardness and ill-planning of russia's illegal invasion and chastising the

russian top brass mocking the defense minister sergei shoigu. >> translator: you think you are the masters of this life? you think you can dispose of their lives? you think because you have warehouses full of ammunition that you have that right? >> reporter: now the kremlin's secret weapon may be its biggest threat. fred pleitgen, cnn. >> that wraps up this hour of cnn. i'm kim brunhuber. you can follow me on twitter @kimbrunhuber. "cnn this morning" is next.

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