Video Shows Wagner Boss Capturing Rostov Military HQ and Rebuking Commander

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner Group, has claimed his troops had taken military sites in Rostov-on-Don, as dramatic footage shows armed men and armored vehicles reportedly surrounding the headquarters of the Southern Military District in the city. He also takes aim at Russia's Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov.

A day after announcing he was "declaring war" on the Russian Ministry of Defense, he said in the video message claimed to be from Rostov on Saturday that military sites in the city were under his control.

Prigozhin has been heavily critical of Russia's military establishment and its conduct in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accusing it of not providing his mercenaries with sufficient supplies.

"Another video shows Prigozhin berating Yevkurov and calling Moscow's military leaders "senile clowns."

In the video, said to be taken at the Rostov HQ, which is key to Russia's war efforts, Prigozhin can be seen berating Yevkurov. Prigozhin told the minister that Russia's military was targeting Wagner troops from the air, "they shoot at us, and we shoot them down," he said.

"We'll keep bringing them down if you keep sending them, because you are hitting innocent civilians," he added. Yevkurov said it was "the first I'm hearing of it."

The Wagner chief demanded an audience with the head of Russia's General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, and Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, both of whom he has repeatedly condemned throughout the war for their conduct.

"As long as they are not here, we will remain here, block the city of Rostov and head for Moscow," he said. Prigozhin then refused to release the regular Russian soldiers said to be held in the HQ and insisted that his group was not interrupting the command of troops in the war.

Rejecting the charge that his move would cost the lives of Russian troops, Prigozhin said, "guys are dying because you are throwing them into the meat grinder...without ammunition, without thought."

It comes as BBC News reported that Wagner fighters had taken control of all military facilities in the city of Voronezh, which lies approximately 350 miles south of Moscow and is halfway between the capital and Rostov, although local officials have not commented on the claim.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Wagner of treason, saying that "personal interests have led to the betrayal of our country and the cause that our armed forces are fighting."

But Prigozhin gave a defiant response in a video message in which he criticized the Russian president directly, saying that he was "deeply mistaken."

"We are patriots of our motherland," Prigozhin said.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.