U.S. sees 'cracks' in Putin's power after mutiny

STORY: Scenes of calm in the streets of Moscow on Sunday, where just a day earlier the government threw up military checkpoints amid reports that an armed column of mutinous Russian mercenaries were barreling north toward the capital.

A tumultuous two days saw the Yevgeny Prighozin, the leader of the Wagner private militia, seize the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and challenge the the authority of President Vladimir Putin.

But a short while later a deal was brokered that saw the mercenaries stand down, with Prighozin to leave Russia for neighboring Belarus.

The unrest whipsawed Moscow residents. A man who gave his name as Andrey told Reuters "It was really uneasy yesterday, but look, it's Sunday, people are walking in the streets. It's all good. Let's hope it's all going to be peaceful in the city, in the country and in the world too. Let's hope it will all be peacefully resolved."

But in Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner tank treads scored the city's pavement, locals were still shaken.

A resident who gave his name as Dmitry said simply, "there are very serious problems in the country, and they need to be solved. People who can no longer tolerate it, they resort to such radical methods as Prighozin."

Prigozhin and his Wagner fighters were once hailed by Russian media as heroes of the invasion of Ukraine. But Prigozhin has been fiercely criticizing Russia's military leadership for months. On Friday he claimed his forces were attacked by the regular army, prompting his apparent mutiny.

TAYLOR: "It's the most dramatic military political confrontation in Russia in the last 30 years, since the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the early 1990s."

The short-lived upheaval has raised questions over Putin's hold on power. Brian Taylor is a professor at Syracuse University:

TAYLOR: "I think Putin emerges from this significantly weakened. I think if you're a member of the Russian elite are in fact a member of the Russian population, you're going to look at this and think, "Wow, a private army just drove on Moscow for most of the day. No one stopped them and they're allowed to leave and no real consequences."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said the Wagner mutiny showed cracks in the Russian president's hold on power, telling ABC News, "I don't think we've seen the final act."

And there is also the question about how this might impact Russian operations in Ukraine just as Kyiv is in the midst of a counter-offensive.

The Ukrainian military on Sunday released footage of what it said were its forces storming Russian trenches near the city of Bakhmut. A brigade commander claimed on Telegram the video showed a Russian bridgehead on a riverbank had been completely cleared.

Russia's defense ministry said it had repelled attacks, including 10 in the Bakhmut area.