Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia “shows no one is in control” and there is “chaos”.
The Russian private army who stormed most of the way to Moscow agreed to turn back “to avoid bloodshed”, their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday evening.
The fighters, after crossing over from Ukraine, captured the city of Rostov, claiming control of a key military base there and military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about 500 km (300 miles) south of Moscow, before his convoy made their way on towards the Russian capital.
Earlier, Mr Prigozhin said his men were rebelling to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.
But in an audio message on Saturday evening, Mr Prigozhin said his fighters would return to base because of the risk of Russian blood being spilled, Reuters reported.
The announcement appeared to defuse to some degree what has been seen as the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s leadership in his more than two decades in power.
A deal to halt further movement of Wagner fighters across Russia in return for their guaranteed safety was made by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, his office said.
Mr Prigozhin will move to neighboring Belarus as part of the deal, the Kremlin said, and the criminal case against him will be closed.
Mr Prigozhin’s troops who joined him in the uprising will not face prosecution and those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
After the deal was reached, Mr Prigozhin said he was ordering his troops to retreat to field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian troops.
But Ukraine’s president Zelensky said in his nightly address shared to Telegram: “Today is a day when there definitely should be no silence. And we definitely need leadership. Today the world saw that the bosses of Russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Complete chaos. Complete absence of any predictability.”
Mr Zelensky added that today, “all Russian bandits, mercenaries and oligarchs” saw how easy it was to “capture Russian cities”.
He once again urged Western partners to support Ukraine and to help it “protect Europe” with planes and weapons.
Then, switching from Ukrainian to Russian, he said: “The man from the Kremlin is obviously very afraid and probably hiding somewhere, not showing himself. I am sure that he is no longer in Moscow.”
“He knows what he is afraid of because he himself created this threat. All evil, all losses, all hatred – it is he who spreads it.”
There was some suggestion of advances in Ukraine’s counter-offensive as a result of the “chaos”. Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian troops started an offensive in several directions in the country’s east.
Moscow had braced for the arrival of the private army, banning mass outdoor gatherings and warning all residents to refrain from using their cars. Monday was declared a non-working day for most people.
Downing Street said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other leaders reiterated “their continuing support for Ukrainian sovereignty”.
An armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group would be “the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
In a statement, the MoD said Wagner Group forces crossed from occupied Ukraine into Russia in at least two locations. In Rostov-on-Don, Wagner had “almost certainly” occupied key security sites, including the HQ which runs Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
Further Wagner units moved north through Vorenezh Oblast, “almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow”, the MoD said.
More than 100 firefighters were in action at a fuel depot ablaze in Voronezh. Video footage obtained by Reuters showed it exploding in a fireball shortly after a helicopter flew by.
In a televised address from the Kremlin at the start of the rebellion Russia President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s very existence was under threat.
“We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history,” he said.
“All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people.”
Putin later signed a law tightening rules for breaking martial law in places where it has been imposed, the RIA news agency said.
Video obtained by Reuters showed troop carriers and two flatbed trucks each carrying a tank driving 30 miles (50 km) beyond Voronezh, more than half way to Moscow, where a helicopter fired on them.
Mr Prigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with top military officials, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District in the city of Rostov without firing a shot.
Earlier this week Mr Prigozhin accused Russian military officials of lying to Putin and the public about Russian battlefield losses.
He said in one audio message: “Total trash is being put on the president’s desk. Shoigu and Gerasimov have a simple approach. The lie must be monstrous for people to believe it. That is what they are doing.”
