Russian mercenary leader denies that he is trying to take over his country

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has denied allegations by President Vladimir Putin that he is betraying his country, and called his Wagner Group fighters "patriots".

After the Russian leader denounced Wagner forces entering the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the group's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said: "Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland."

Mr Prigozhin said his fighters would not turn themselves in at the request of Mr Putin, as "we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy".

In an address to the nation on Saturday morning, Mr Putin vowed to defend Russia against the armed rebellion after Mr Prigozhin led his troops out of Ukraine and into the key city 600 miles south of Moscow.

The uprising, which Mr Putin called "a stab in the back", is the biggest threat to his leadership in more than two decades in power.

The private army led by Mr Prigozhin appears to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don that runs Russian offensive operations in Ukraine, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an intelligence briefing.

As the fast-moving events unfolded in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow is suffering "full-scale weakness" and that Kyiv was protecting Europe from "the spread of Russian evil and chaos".

In his address, Mr Putin called the uprising by Mr Prigozhin, whom he did not mention by name, a "betrayal" and "treason".

The Russian President said: "All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment.

"The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders."