Wagner mercenaries advance towards Moscow, surrounded military HQ in Rostov.

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner private army, led by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, have seized the southern city of Rostov and are advancing towards Moscow, with Russia's military seemingly unable to slow their progress. President Putin has vowed to crush the armed mutiny, which he compared to Russia's Civil War a century ago. Prigozhin accused Russia's military of hitting civilian targets from the air as it tried to slow the column's advance. The insurrection risks leaving Russia's invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.