The head of the Wagner mercenary army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, claiming that Russia has already achieved its goals in the conflict. In a video posted online on Friday night, Prigozhin argued that the Russian armed forces have taken a significant amount of Ukrainian territory, and that Russia has ground down a large number of fighters from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Prigozhin warned that the war could lead to revolutionary fervour in Russia, as the Russian people may seek a "scapegoat" for military failures. He also claimed that Russia has destroyed "a large part of the active male population of Ukraine" and caused others to flee the country.
"For the authorities and society as a whole, it is today necessary to put a solid full stop on the special military operation," said Prigozhin. "The ideal option is to announce the end of the special military operation, to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense we have actually achieved them."