welcome back to special coverage of the extraordinary chain of events unfolding in russia today. vladimir putin facing the most serious threat to his hold on power in more than 23 years. even now, the ultimate outcome for him and ukraine uncertain. in a deal allegedly brokered by belarus, the founder and chief of the wagner group abruptly

stopped his advance on moscow and apparently pulled at least some fighters out of rostov-on-don. they had made to it within 120 miles of the capital when they suddenly decided to turn around. the kremlin saying they have putin's word he can go safely to belarus free from prosecution. you can see him being cheered by the folks. they even went to shake his hand. prigozhin saying he made the deal because he didn't want to shed russian blood. >> translator: therefore, russian blood would be shed from one of the sites we turn our column around and turn in the opposite direction according to the plan. >> we also see here some of his departing fighters who seem to get some cheers from residents as they stood on top of the tanks. so we have full team coverage

for you over the next hour. our team of correspondents and guests. i start with nic robertson. so prigozhin has been seething at russian leadership. he's been saying for months, attacking the defense minister shoigu and others. he claimed that russian forces had attacked his men, intentionally tried to kill wagner forces. we don't know if that's true or not and that's what ostensibly led him to invade the russian cities, rostov-on-don started advancing on moscow. do we know anything about why he would make this deal? he said he wouldn't want to shed russian blood. he seemed pretty blood thirsty before. >> i think there is a calculation here, or an evaluation that says he overreached. there wasn't the readiness in russia to support him to overthrow shoigu and gerasimov, his deputy to overthrow putin.

perhaps overreacted. he's seen as someone who can get emotional. if his troops were attacked and he did overreact and he extended himself, he would realize his best way to back out is overreaction. although the goal was to find a deal that would allow him to have moo out of russia, at least lick his wounds and make his next move. so much we don't know. we don't know the huge push to get rid of shoigu. we don't know where that stands. we don't know where shoigu is and we don't know if putin will keep him on as minister of defense. >> the report is that he's been offered to go to belarus and he'll be safe there. we don't know where prigozhin is. we've seen that video of him driving away from the video camera in rostov of don. we don't know if he left or even the status of wagner fighters.

we don't know if they've fully withdrawn. is that right? >> he's an extremely untrust worthy caring. it is amazing that anyone thinks they can make a deal with him that will stick. perhaps he was chasened by the fact he realized he got a pardon and make the most of it and get somewhere moderately safer like belarus. let's face it. belarus is perhaps no more safe than russia anyway. russia's reach is right into belarus. they claim to have based their tactical nuclear warheads there at the moment. lukashenko is really propped up by putin. suddenly lukashenko looks like the guy helping putin out of a hole. it is hard to imagine a scenario where putin didn't have a preback channel sign-off on whatever he was doing. none of this passes any kind of sensible sniff test at all. >> it's extraordinary to me

given that russia, i mean, the security services in russia, the oppressive nature of the regime there, that even in that video of prigozhin with his window rolled down in his suv, people reaching in to shake his hand. you would think given the police presence and the secret police presence in moscow and elsewhere in russia, particularly in rostov of don that has a military role, that he could have been shot right there. it's stunning to me what appears to be just the lack of organization of the security services in russia and the military services. >> i think that is what he has demonstrated so dramatically. that he could roll his mercenaries into a russian city and essentially take it over without firing a shot. take over an air base as well,

he claims. and then as he claims, send columns of his forces to within 200 kilometers of the russian capital. and on top of this, there was a lot of discussion online that hey, this will be another swan lake moment. which is referring to the coup attempts of 1991, '93. '91 more like when russian state television would just show ballet from swan lake on television when things got uncomfortable rather than talk about what is really happening. in this case, russians not only saw what was happening on the streets in front of them, if you happened to be in rostov or stuck in highways by security forces, or you saw it on russian state television which has actually covered it and saying the highways to moscow were blocked. now they're open again. they're reporting that vladimir putin is saying that this is treachery. this is a betrayal of the state on the scale of the 1917

bolshevik revolution but now putin has just made a deal with the guy who he was calling a traitor just a couple of hours ago. so this is revealed certainly a weakness. and one that people saw in the 1990s, anderson. and more recently, with the raids that ukrainian forces have launched into russian border areas that have been difficult for the russian security forces to deal with. if you think back to the 1990s, chechen separatists used to go charging into russia and take a school hostage or an entire theater in moscow hostage, and dealing with that was always a terrible, terrible crisis and disaster for the russian security forces. and that is why this scenario could have been so much worse potentially. these were battle-hardened mercenaries who had their ranks filled with convicted criminals. >> nick, how badly damaged do you think vladimir putin is?

>> well, it appears as if he's been afraid to deal with prigozhin and the run-up to this. perhaps afraid to call him a security service. to have his head out of the window fearing there would be a revolt in the town or more prigozhin's people would go on a wild revolt in russia. it demonstrates fearful vladimir putin was the guy who could maintain the power balance with all the oligarchs. he was the one at the center who could be the godfather. yes, you can run that business. you give me that much. you do that. you do that. he was the balance. then he went into ukraine on the premise that he could win it really quickly. completely failed. then he got stuck a bit later now, in trench warfare. so he failed the second go-around. now he had this offense on the streets that hadn't been seen in decades and that's on his

watchful this was the guy a, so powerful, b, had such a good idea of strategy and control. and now it all appears to evaporate. he is in a much weaker position and is enemies who weren't enemies before, frenemies maybe. now see opportunities. prigozhin isn't the first in russia to turn on that sort of advocate and the person that helped them develop their business and become an oligarch. putin himself, they helped putin become prime minister and then become president. putin then turned on borisevsky who then fled the country. this is what we've witnessed here with prigozhin. >> nic robertson, ivan watson, thank you. so many things to watch for. we go to paula newton now. you lived in russia for a number

of years. you watched putin come to power and you've had the opportunity to interview him. i'm wondering what your thoughts are. do you think russia knows what's happening? they saw the address putin made, not naming prigozhin but referring to him, as this is a betrayal, a stab in the back. >> reporter: yeah. i'm sure they found even that pronouncement on state tv incredibly bizarre. and yet it happened. for the rest of the day, it's not like russian tv had rolling coverage. the other thing was according to net blocks which monitors censorship, beginning news on friday night was blocked. that doesn't happen very often in russia and apparently it happened quite effectively. official you're the younger generation in russia, you know how to get around that. if you want news, you'll get it. i was communicating with people on russia on signal. a lot of people do that. at issue here though, anderson,

is how much news they actually want. in talking to people today in cities that were not in the throes of what was going on with prigozhin, it was unnervingly calm for people i spoke to. they went for strolls in the park. they went to restaurants. they took their kids out. and why? there is a resignation that they no longer have any control over what is going on there. there is a difference between trying to get the news and actually saying something on an internet website or a chat group that goes against the regime. and we have seen the putin administration come down heavily on people that have criticized the ukraine invasion. picking up on what ivan and nic that, this man was brought to power when i was there, between yeltsin and his reign. it was chechnya. and having covered that war, this was the bargain that russians always knew how brutal that fight was and they made a bargain with him because they wanted calm in their own country and they didn't want the chaos.

when you see the sign of chaos, you wonder how much longer putin can keep up that bargain. this won't be with people on the streets. at least that's may estimation. i've wondered for years what it would take to topple this government. it won't be that. it will be the people that made money at putin's knees and continuing to wonder now how much he's compromised the country and the lifestyle they've become used to. in other words, watch this space. >> yeah. thank you. i appreciate it. a big question tonight, how does prigozhin affect putin's power? we'll talk with the secretary of defense. is putin at risk? at this point 24 hours after the beginning of this, how weaker is he? i mean, is it terminal? >> well, anderson, i think

you're asking the key questions. he is clearly weakened. there is blood in the water. i wouldn't be surprised if another member of the elite, one of the security chiefs, the national security adviser, is thinking about possibly replacing him. because they've seen that there is an opportunity. i think prigozhin failed probably because some aspect of his plan, some support didn't come through. either that or as the other correspondents indicated, he really didn't think this through. >> i mean, i want to ask you more about that. it is hard to imagine him making this push or having his troops, i should say. i doubt he was in the lead vehicle on this. having his troops move toward moscow. you raised the specter, did he hope to have somebody already in? somebody with a certain battalion, whatever, maybe indicate that they would help out if they got to moscow and

that didn't happen and therefore, that was one of the reasons he realized? or he had a sense that he had overreached? there are so many things we don't know. it is hard to imagine him thinking that he could go to moscow with the troops he had. what would have been his plan to try to surround the ministry of defense and arrest or kill the defense minister? it seems hard to imagine. >> i mean, to be clear, we are guessing here. we don't have the inside information. i certainly don't have access to intelligence. it seems that our intelligence community was aware that prigozhin was planning something and the guys had a used to work there and followed the open cat intelligence, they also indicated that they thought he was planning something. so i think that prigozhin is not stupid. he probably thought he had lined up more support. the fact that he got as far as he got tells me he had some

support. he sat down with those officials in rostov and then proceeded northward. his plan failed because he didn't get critical support that he needed probably inside the kremlin. i don't mean putin. i mean people around putin. that's what i'm guessing. and his plan might have been all along to get help. or he was very opportunistic taking prigozhin as his prisoner. yeah. jill? he gets to go off to belarus allegedly and all charges will be dropped. do you buy that? do you think he would even go to belarus? >> well, lukashenko and prigozhin know each other. they've known each other for quite a while. possibly, you know. it might be a good second step

if your men are disband and are going into the regular military. it might be a resting place. but prigozhin -- >> it might be a final resting place. >> it is entirely possible. but where his next dime is coming from. this guy is in it for money as well. he's not professional military. and don't forget, he is the troll factory. the person who had the trolls that interfered in the american election a few years ago. he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. so he might find some other gainful employment being based in belarus, which is under control of russia anyway. >> and what do you think this does to putin's leadership in the eyes, not only of the russians but the outside world? >> that's a really good question. i think of xi jinping, the leader of china, looking at

this. he's already seeing putin botch the war. this is not good, i think, for any type of respect that the chinese would have for the russians. must be in the basement at this point. it is really a disaster. so it strengthens china. china comes out looking strong in most of this. and russia looking very weak and disorganized which it really is, and chaotic. and then other countries might have been look the at putin let's say as a source of selling weapons. north korea, iran. they, too, must be questioning, will putin be in power in it is very unclear. it weakens him domestically. very weak, and internationally. >> i remember reading an oral history of ethiopia. one of the ways he kept power

was keeping everyone around him guessing and at each other's throats and not sure who to trust. it seems like vladimir putin has done that. that is one of his strategies as well. allowing prigozhin to be, it was like rats in a maze. gnawing away at the defense minister, having chem at each other's throats, and keeping them divided so they're not trying to gnaw off vladimir putin's limbs. >> right. and he did that, let's not forget, with the chechen leader who also went to ukraine with his fighters and ended up disgruntled but left the battlefield and went quiet, at left a when it come to criticizing the war. certainly didn't get quite to the level of prigozhin. putin has had a knack in terms of juggling all these different power centers, playing them off against one another so he stays the man in the middle. he clearly lost control here.

prigozhin may have overcalculated but at the same time, putin must have, too. putin clearly didn't see this coming. and there is the biggest challenge that he's faced since 2000 when he took control of the country. there's blood in the water, people wanting to take advantage of putin and that mean that putin is likely to clamp down even harder on russian society and to look for culprits now. >> appreciate it. coming up, the impact, the front lines on the war in ukraine. the wagner group played a role in the war on ukraine. what role will they play now? and later, an unprecedented 24 hours for russia and the world.

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. you're watching special coverage of the extraordinary events this weekend out of russia and the remarkable threat to the power of the man who has been their president for the past 23 years. cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman has been following all the developments. >> reporter: anderson, what a long, strange day it's been. starting early with wagner yevgeny prigozhin seizing critical military facilities in the city of rostov-on-don including the southern military

district. the strategic command center for much of russia's forces in eastern and southern ukraine. for ukraine, it seemed, the enemy was turning upon himself. that the ripples of chaos and disorder in russia would reach the front lines here. ukrainian officials issued statements to the effect that this was the beginning of the collapse of russia, of civil war, with president volodymyr zelenskyy even suggesting that putin was on the run. >> translator: the man from the kremlin is obviously very afraid and probably hiding somewhere. not showing himself. i'm sure that he is no longer in moscow. >> reporter: wherever he was, everything changed when it was announced that prigozhin had agreed to stop his march on moscow and return to base. saturday evening, kyiv announced gains in a series of offensives around the now russian occupied town of bakhmut. but when all is said and done, the sound and fury of

prigozhin's brief insurrection came to naught. anderson? >> yeah. and we will see what the next 24 hours brings. thanks. for more now on how this may play out on the battlefield, i'm joined by retired army major mike lyons. when you consider all that has developed since friday, what stands out to you the most about, i mean, what this mean for the war in ukraine, particularly the role of wagner fighters? >> anderson, thanks for having me. it doesn't affect what is happening on the ground in ukraine in the short term. the question is what does happen to those wagner fighters? they're an independent fighting company. they were given better rations. they dressed differently. i don't think they'll be easily asimulated into the russian military and sent back to the front there. so i think there will be an issue. maybe some will splinter off. maybe some will decide to defect

and provide information to ukraine. those people are loyal to the man, prigozhin, not to the country, not to the mission. so we've got a lot more questions that are not answered right now. but i think from that perspective, i think that group splinters up and goes away pretty quickly. >> if it is true, what we are being told, and none of the actors in this, prigozhin, you know, the leaders in belarus, the leaders of russia are reliable brokers and honest. so we have to take everything worth a grain of salt. if we're led to believe that prigozhin goes to belarus and is no longer leading the wagner fighters and they just get signed contracts with the russian military, if i was a wagner fighter, i would be upset that prigozhin who has been making all these videos saying the russian generals are incompetent, he's now given up all his fighters to be led by these allegedly incompetent russian generals?

it seems like, to your point, i don't know, how do they blend into the russian military? >> yeah. and if you go with that crime family analogy and why he was sent to belarus, he's an earner within the russian system. he has hooks in africa where russia is trying to get ahead of the game on rare earth minerals, in syria, he's done things in the pass. maybe that's why he got a pass and his life was spared at this point. maybe they sent those soldiers back to the rear and they find their way over into those other areas. i don't see them assimilating. i don't see them going to the front. they've been out of bakhmut six weeks now. they're not going back to battle any time soon. >> in terms of ukraine had claimed that they had done some counteroffensives, trying to take advantage of this situation. we haven't been able to independently confirm that so it is not clear if they actually did that at all.

what do you think the impact of all of this is on those who are regular soldiers fighting in ukraine? >> number one, gather as much intelligence from nato, united states forces that are there, with regard to the weaknesses and what is going on on the russian front and seeing where those spots that they can exploit. we know there's tremendous belt lines. the counteroffensive is not gone. and it has not been their fault. they don't have air superiority. they're lacking technical things they need. i think they have to attack the russian army in particular. they report back. they've taken certain towns back. every town they take is completely wrecked. they're just flattened. there is not a lot to the real estate. for them to win, this he have to attack the russian army, cut off the russian army, get large number of russian soldiers to surrender. we can't say we can control or they can control any kind of communication taking place within the russian soldiers. we don't know what's going on

there. if they start attacking the russians soldiers in their place, making it miserable for them, i think they have to focus on more specific actions of advance and not try to do this across a wide front. >> appreciate your time tonight. thank you. coming up, the armed stand-off between vladimir putin and prigozhin seems to have stopped as quickly as it started. will we know about the intelligence gathered ahead of the crisis and what they're hearing about what happens next. cutting edge innovation... ( ♪ ) ...and thoughtful detatails... ...inspired by you. ( ♪ ) from the brand that delivers amazing ownership experiences, this is the first ever, all electric, rz. this is lexus, electrified. ♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪

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closely watching developments in russia and will not comment further. they said they knew yevgeny prigozhin was planning something but that u.s. officials were caught off guard by today's events and how quickly they unfolded. we just learned the u.s. has not seen a change in russia's nuclear posture. kylie, what have american democrats been doing tracking this situation? >> well, really working the phone call. you see the secretary of state antony blinken had a number of phone call with his counterparts today in the g-7, the e.u., turkey, poland, ukraine. when it come to the official readouts from the state department, it has really been a message that has been twofold. first of all, the united states

continues to support ukraine. it is steadfast and it will continue to work with its allies and partners to track the situation. what u.s. diplomats are doing behind the scenes is trying to collect information about what has gone down over the course of the last 24 to 36 hours here. of course, working with u.s. intelligence officials. i think it is important to note that the u.s. diplomatic presence in moscow, the u.s. embassy in moscow, those diplomats are still there. that presence remains unchanged. and that is interesting because what it demonstrates is that as this insurrection was gaining speed, they didn't feel that there was a need to change that posture at all. so that is key. what we'll watch to see if any of those democrats over the next few days or so have any interactions with russian officials. thus far, we have not seen any interactions between u.s. and russian officials and publicly, u.s. officials have been very wary to give any sort of readout

of how they are reacting to this situation. any kind of analysis of it. they don't want the u.s. to be seen as being part of this real battle between what is internal factions in russia right now. >> and have you heard anything more about the nuclear posture? our understanding is that they haven't seen any change in russia's nuclear posture. >> yeah. that's significant because as you know, president putin has been sabre rattling the nuclear, his nuclear capabilities over the course of the ukraine war. and the concern for u.s. officials is always, when there is a situation that presents more threat to president putin and his power, does he feel the need to potentially use his nuclear capabilities? as of right now, as you said, u.s. officials tell me they haven't seen any change to russia's nuclear posture as he faces this threat from prigozhin

which seems to be sort of settling down now. but they continue to watch that and they continue to particularly watch belarus. just earlier this month, putin said that he made his first transfer of tactical nuclear weapons into belarus. obviously, that hasn't happened any more over the course of the last 24 to 36 hours. if there hasn't been a change to russia's talking in posture, according to u.s. officials, but they continue to watch that space incredibly closely. >> appreciate it. thank you. i want to bring in an expert on the wagner group with the nonprofit group of international studies. katrina, if prigozhin does go to belarus, which we don't know if that is what will happen. what happens to the wagner group? not only is it the war in ukraine but they have real, obviously a huge presence in c.a.r., the central african republic, they fought in mozambique, mali, a number of

places in africa and they have real financial benefits for russia and certainly for prigozhin. >> i think that's the real question that we're facing now and likely that prigozhin is facing. we don't know if any discussion about wagner's activities were part of that negotiation between prigozhin and putin today. but we do know that really the bulk of wagner's activity and the core of prigozhin's business empire does sit in africa. and particularly in sub saharan african states where wagner has specifically and changed its various paramilitary services for access to natural resources like gemstones and gold. so this is in places like sudan, the central african republic, mali, although we haven't seen evidence of them exploiting the resources there yet. so i expect that while certainly there's a lot still up in the air, one of prigozhin's big priorities now will be to try to

reassert his control over that wider network of wagner operations and the various shell companies that are connected to him and to wagner. and that's going to potentially be another stress point with moscow because russia has relied so much on wagner to be able to spread its different geopolitical and check goals in africa. there potentially could be some competition if prigozhin can continue to control those operations or if we see those operations become under a broader state umbrella, if we see someone else step in to replace prigozhin, and then the potential fallout of a replacement stepping out. >> i don't know the contract structure. i know they were offering them deals. there was a report that wagner forces would be able to sign contracts with the russian army and continue to fight in

ukraine. how likely is it? would wagner forces have to join the russian army? or are they free agents and they could not do that? do you know? >> so it seems that was really the issue at the core of this mutiny attempt that we saw over the past couple of days. we have the deadline looming. the ministry of defense, a july 1st deadline for wagner troops to sign contracts with the russian ministry of defense, and that is something that prigozhin had just categorically rejected. what we see in the reported terms of the agreement between prigozhin and putin today is that prigozhin and the sort of core group of his wagner fighters who are involved in the activities over the past two days will not be forced to sign those contracts, and on the grounds, publicly stated of their service in ukraine, they will not be punished for their

activities today. that is certainly up for debate. putin is not someone to forgive lightly. but there are opportunities for other members of wagner who are not involved in these activities to sign on. so in some ways this is almost an escape hatch for the wagner members who did not plan to sign on. >> that is really interesting. i wasn't aware that they had set a deadline for july, that the russians had set a dead lane for wagner forces. that says a lot about potential motivation for some of this. do you have a sense, you talked about the forces involved in the activities. this gives them the option of not signing the contracts. do you have any sense of numbers? the inner circle, the core group of fighters that are really important to prigozhin? how many that would be? >> so we've had a variety of different estimates. certainly nothing is exact.

i've seen numbers reported around 25,000 that were mobilized in some capacity over the past two days. at this point, i don't think that we can put a lot of credibility behind specific numbers. but i would also cite the fact that while that is looking at troops in the ukraine-russia area, there are also a relatively large number of troops involved in activities in africa and other countries where wagger in has been active in recent years. so there are others that he can fall back on if he can maintain that control. >> do you think there's any likelihood that he would go live in the central african republic in a number of the countries they're working he has very close relationships with the leaders in those countries. they're training the armed forces. they're providing private security for, in some cases, the leadership. >> i don't personally see a high likelihood of having prigozhin move to a place like that any

time soon. >> i've been there. come on. he could get a big house there. you know. >> i think of those falsified videos of him allegedly on the front lines in bakhmut in ukraine that were eventually geo located far from the lines. i don't see him actually putting his own neck on the line but i could certainly see him making high profile visits, creating propaganda films that claim to be in certain areas. he's the master of manipulation when it come to information. >> it is extraordinary to me how he has created this persona of himself as if he has military history. as if he knows, clearly somebody put the walky talky, told him where to put on it his kevlar vest. he dresses up. but he's not a soldier himself. i really appreciate your expertise. great to talk to you. thank you. working the phones, checking

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in the past, president biden has not shied away from speaking out against russian president vladimir putin. he's strategically quiet today. jeremy joins me live from outside the white house. tell me the concerns about

speaking out and not speaking out. >> reporter: well, listen, these have been fast-moving developments. over the last 24 hours, white house officials have been really monitoring the developments both through open source intelligence as well as what intelligence agencies are gathering. the decision not to speak out is tied to the fast-moving events but also because they don't want to give any appearance that the united states is involved or trying to put a finger on the scale of the insurrection that was unfolding inside russia. instead what we've seen is u.s. officials quietly lind the scene monitoring and also president biden speaking with key allies. he spoke with several nato allies this morning on the phone, including the leaders of france, germany and the united kingdom. top u.s. officials including cabinet official have been speaking with their counterparts as well. the u.s. was caught off guard with how quickly this insurrection played out. but that's not to say that u.s.

officials were entirely surprised. the u.s. has been keeping a close eye on the simmering tensions between the wagner group and the russian ministry of defense. as early as january, the national security spokesman john kirby referred to the wagner group as becoming a rival power center to the russian ministry of defense. and more recently, u.s. officials got a sense that prigozhin and the wagner group were indeed preparing something. in terms of when president biden or the administration are going to break their silence and really weigh in here, tomorrow, secretary of state antony blinken is slated to appear on several sunday shows including cnn's state of the union. we'll see what the u.s. assessment is. perhaps there is where we will get our first sense. >> all right. appreciate it. thank you. many. videos we've seen from today's events were first posted to a moral called telegram. they had a closer look at wagner group's social media and how it has been exploited for disinformation as well.

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perhaps a sign of the times, many of the major advances are shared online through telegram. it is highly popular in the region. i'm joined did i david sanger,

national security analyst as well as a white house and national security correspondent for the "new york times." thank you for being with us. can you speak more, a little more to prigozhin's use of telegram, the platform, to try to get the message out? >> it's been pretty brilliant. that shouldn't sprass us given the fact that prigozhin himself is no amateur when it comes to social media. you'll remember, if we just wind the clock back seven years ago, he was running the internet research agency, the group that went out, sent people to the united states to go figure out divisive issues. came back and started posting from the internet research agency on facebook and elsewhere efforts to basically send out disinformation and try to get, to open up divisions within the american body politic. and they did it very effectively. they de clara protest in one place and then a counter protest

the same day in the same place, and try to create a small riot. they did this in texas. they did it in other places. so satisfied that forward seven years and he he's using telegram, a widely used messaging app, and social media app as well. and he is announcing each of his moves but he's also using it to declare that the defense ministry, the defense minister, general gerasimov, the chief of staff of the russian armed forces are corrupt and incompetent. the amazing thing is, until today, he didn't get shut down. >> yeah. it is, we were talking about this with others earlier. that vladimir putin allowed him to have this with this top defense officials and to have

them going at each other so they were not turning, you know, they were divided and they did not unite and turn against vladimir putin. a way to keep the people around him warring with each other as opposed to threatening the leader. >> i think that was a piece of it. i think there was another part of it as well. which is, putin can't be very happen with the defense minister, shoigu, or with gerasimov because they were the ones who put together the plan to take oh kyiv and had to abandon that. they were the ones who went down to plan b, go back to the south and east, and that's where the counteroffensive is happening. they're the ones who did not count on the degree to which the ukrainians would rise up or the west, nato, the united states, would support them. so my guess is that putin had some sympathies with prigozhin and felt that some of his

critiques were probably valid. we're mind-reading here but he couldn't have completely unhappy to see this thorn in their side. then it got to the point where it got too close. yesterday, we were reading on telegram as prigozhin announces that if he doesn't get a meeting with gerasimov and shoigu, he's marching to moscow. and then started doing exactly that. it was only then that putin comes out and gives a speech and calls him a traitor. >> yeah. it's just been an extraordinary 24 hours. this is still so much to learn about what we have just witnessed and obviously, so much to look at what will be coming in the next 24, 48 hours. appreciate your time tonight. thank you. i want to thank everyone for joining me on this special edition of "360." jim acosta picks up cnn next in

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we're back live in the cnn newsroom. i'm jim acosta. it is 5:00 a.m. in moscow. a new day of questions and uncertainty lies ahead for russia. russian mercenaries suddenly abandoned their insurrection and poss