Kyiv taunts Moscow over rebellion in Russia

The government in Kyiv taunted the Kremlin on Saturday as Russia faced a rebellion by a mercenary leader whose forces have fought in Ukraine, saying that Moscow’s invasion was rebounding on Russia itself.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that “Russia’s weakness is obvious” and portrayed the uprising against Moscow, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a mercenary and business tycoon, as an example of divine justice.

“Everyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “The longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later.”

Zelenskyy said events surrounding the Wagner Group underpinned his government’s rationale for resisting Russian aggression.

“Ukraine is able to protect Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos,” he said, and appeared to suggest that the events would galvanize Ukrainian troops who launched a counteroffensive this month. “We keep our resilience, unity and strength. All our commanders, all our soldiers know what to do.”

Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, echoed the theme. He posted a photo of himself standing with Ukrainian military leaders, saying that Zelenskyy’s team was “together.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, taunted what he described as Russian weakness and used the turmoil as an opportunity to again press Ukraine’s allies for more weapons.

“Those who said Russia was too strong to lose: Look now,” he said on Twitter. “Time to abandon false neutrality and fear of escalation; give Ukraine all the needed weapons; forget about friendship or business with Russia.”

The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said Russia’s invasion, which began in 2014 with the illegal annexation of Crimea and has included the seizing of territory in eastern Ukraine, would come back to Russia.

“As the war began, so it will end — inside Russia,” he said on Twitter. “The process has begun.”

The short- lived rebellion came as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” President Vladimir Putin said.