Putin is under pressure as Wagner Group’s Prighozhin turns rebel. The Wagner Group is allegedly near Moscow, with the Russian military firing on them.

Prigozhin said he isn’t trying to overthrow Putin, just Defense Minister Shoigu, whose headquarters are in Rostov, 1,000 miles from Moscow.

Putin is furious and says Prigozhin betrayed him. For his part, Prigozhin says the military is lying to Putin. It’s all unfolding quickly, and much of the news is unclear or continually changing.

Putin and Medvedev and his family have allegedly left Moscow. Moscow is being blockaded.

The Russian mercenaries have taken over military sites in Rostov and possibly hit an oil depot in Voronezh. Putin was in the Kremlin, vowing to punish those involved in the rebellion.

The Russian military has allegedly shot at a military convoy making its way to Moscow, BBC says.

Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has feuded with the Russian military leadership for months, took his feud to a new level Friday when he leveled accusations that his fighters had been struck by the Russian military – killing many – and vowing revenge.

The threat, made over his official Telegram channel, sparked what appeared to be a crisis in Russia.

The BBC has non-stop news, but I turned them off when they had Christopher Steele on repeatedly as their expert. He said some crazy, irrational things during Russiagate.

Prigozhin said they did not fire a single shot. The Russian military did.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prighozin said his troops had taken control of the military command center and an airbase in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and vowed to topple Moscow’s top military leaders.

The country’s security service FSB called on Prigozhin’s own Wagner Group private army to refuse orders and detain him. The prosecutor general’s office said it opened a criminal investigation for “organizing an armed rebellion, the prosecutor general’s office said.

Called by Russia a “private military company,” the Wagner Group is called a proxy force by U.S. officials and others, while others label it a mercenary group.

It was funded in 2014 and is owned by Prigozhin, a 61-year-old who has been previously known as “Putin’s chef.” Putin personally recruited him.

Prigozhin has said repeatedly and recently that there was no reason for the invasion.

There was an explosion near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov. Military correspondent Roman Kosarev shows people running away. There was information that “Wagner” mined the streets near the building.

Prigozhin has accused Russia’s military leadership of incompetence in Ukraine, but on Friday, he publicly accused Russia’s military leadership of striking his forces. He claimed there was a missile attack at its rear camps, and Russian leadership killed 2,000 fighters.

“Those who destroyed our lads, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished. I ask that no one offer resistance,” Prigozhin said in a series of audio messages on his official Telegram channel.

NBC reports that he claims they are lying to President Putin and the public.

Russian President Putin said he would not allow it to devolve into Civil War,

Responding in a televised address, Putin slammed his former ally as a “stab in the back” that threatened Russia’s very survival.

“Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and our people,” Putin said in a televised message.

“This battle, when the fate of our people is being decided, requires the unification of all forces.”

“What we have been faced with is exactly betrayal. Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason,” Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, who built a powerbase as a catering contractor to the Kremlin, and now runs a powerful private military force.

“All those who consciously stood on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed rebellion, stood on the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment before the law and before our people,” Putin vowed.

“A huge amount of territory is lost. Soldiers have been killed, three, four times more than what it says in documents shown to the top,” Prigozhin said, accusing military commanders of hiding the true scale of Russian losses in Ukraine from the Kremlin.

Firefighters are extinguishing a fire at a fuel storage tank of an oil depot in the Voronezh Region, Regional Governor Alexander Gusev said on Saturday.

“An effort is underway in Voronezh to put out fire at a fuel storage tank of the oil depot on Dimitrov Street. Over 100 firefighters and 30 pieces of equipment are working at the scene. There are no victims, according to preliminary information,” the governor wrote on his Telegram channel.

Telegram report: It was due to a skirmish between a Russian military helicopter and Wagner.

The telegram channel says Wagner has supporters in Rostov.