The governor of Russia’s Voronezh region said there was a fire in a fuel depot. “More than 100 firefighters and 30 units of equipment worked on the spot,” Alexander Gusev told Telegram. Earlier in the day, a Reuters source told Reuters that soldiers of the Wagner Group had taken control of military facilities in Voronezh and that a convoy of military vehicles of the aforementioned group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin headed towards Moscow.
The governor of Russia’s Voronezh region said around noon on Saturday that emergency services were trying to extinguish a burning fuel tank at an oil depot. More than 100 firefighters and 30 units of equipment worked at the site, Alexander Gusev reported in Telegram.
Videos purporting to show the event – including one showing a helicopter and a pillar of fire – appeared on social media.
The authorities of the Voronezh region had earlier announced that “necessary military measures” had been taken as part of the operation against the rebel mercenaries of the Wagner Group.
Reuters: The Wagner Group has taken over military facilities in Vronezh
Earlier in the day, a security source told Reuters that Wagner Group soldiers had taken control of military facilities in Voronezh, about 500 kilometers from Moscow. The interlocutor of Reuters reported that a column of military vehicles of the group passed through Voronezh. One of the vehicles was to be a truck with a semi-trailer carrying a tank.
Authorities in the Lipetsk region, adjacent to the Voronezh region to the north, appealed to residents to stay at home.
In the morning, Prigozhin reported that his troops had entered from Ukraine to Russia and that he is at the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don. He added that they had taken control of military facilities in the city. As he said, he is waiting there for the arrival of Defense Minister Segei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov. He threatened otherwise Wagnerians “will go to MoscowSoon after, information appeared about the movements of the group’s convoy north towards Moscow.
Main photo source: Twitter/@DenisDanilovL