As attacks between Russia and Ukraine continued this weekend.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelinsky is seizing on the challenge to Vladimir Putin's authority at home here with me.
Now, let's talk about that and much more is retired us army general and former CIA director David Petraeus.
Thank you for joining me, sir. I want to talk about the impact on Ukraine in a moment but let's just start with what's happening inside Russia a wild 24 hours.
What do you make of what happened and what do you believe it means for Putin standing inside Russia?
Well, I think clearly Putin is weakened.
His government is weakened.
The irony is that his junior partner in Belarus Lukashenko had to bail him out of this.
Prigozhin kept his life but lost his Wagner group and he should be very careful around open windows in his new surroundings in Belarus where he's going clearly.
Prigozhin lost his nerve.
He was, as you noted earlier within roughly two hours drive of the outskirts of Moscow where they were starting to prepare defensive positions.
This rebellion, although it had some applause along the way, didn't appear to be generating the kind of support that he had hoped it would.
And again, he decided to take the deal.
He gave up this effort.
So a stunning series of developments in the meantime, Putin fled Moscow reportedly didn't stay around and we haven't seen anything of Putin's Minister of Defense or chief of the general staff, Shoigu and Gorov.
So again, clearly, I think the government has been shaken.
Putin has been shaken personally.
This makes him more vulnerable arguably than he has at any time in his two decade rule of the Russian Federation.
Who knows where this could go.
Now, we've always asked who would be the one who would strike a blow at the at the czar.
And now we know although he failed and it brings to mind also Napoleon's admonition, if you start to take Vienna, take Vienna Prigozhin lost his nerve, turned around and also the future of the Wagner group.
Not completely clear how many of them will sign a contract with Ministry of Defense, which was a real bone of contention to begin with that.
Prigozhin would lose control of this mercenary force.
He's built over a number of years.
I want to ask about Putin because you've studied him and you understand what makes him tick so to speak.
He obviously portrays himself as the strong man in Russia.
This conflict appears to have pulled the curtain back to maybe see something a bit different, explain what it means for him.
Vladimir Putin, the man who has so much bravado to be metaphorically kicked in the teeth.
Well, it creates a lot of doubts.
I'm sure in the minds of those around him, I'm sure they already had many, this whole invasion.
The latest invasion has been a catastrophic mistake.
A terrible blunder on the part of Putin.
The losses are staggering many, many times already.
Just in the 1st 16 months, what the Russians lost in nearly a decade in Afghanistan, a war that ultimately was unsustainable.
And of course, what we need to do is to continue to provide everything possible to Ukraine to enable them in this summer offensive, which is still in the earlier days, early days as the Secretary of State noted to succeed and over time to convince Putin that he's not going to be able to out sufferer the Ukrainians, the Europeans and the Americans, the way Russians outs suffered Napoleon's army and the Nazis.
How unstable is Russia right now?
How worried should the rest of the world be about that?
Well, it should, we should be concerned about this.
I don't think we want a country that spans 11 time zones and includes Republics in the Russian Federation of many different ethnic and sectarian groupings to come apart at the seams.
So we've seen what happens when there is regime change in countries over the last 20 years.
The outcome is not always positive for the world and it's just unclear where this will go is this the beginning of the end of Putin.
We don't know whoever follows him if that is the case, will he be even more dictatorial?
Which is what we feared might be the case if Prigozhin may have been successful, could there actually be a pragmatic leader who steps in and realizes what a catastrophic error this whole Ukraine endeavor has been and realize that they need to somehow get a more rational approach to Europe and to the West.
Many, many unknowns again as Secretary Blinken highlighted many unknowns.
I want our viewers to look at a map of the latest positions in Ukraine.
Just this morning.
Ukraine is claiming it took a new line of trenches back from Russia, from Russia and Baku.
I know you were just in Ukraine last month.
What should Ukraine do right now to take advantage militarily of the chaos inside Russia?
Well, I don't think sadly that the chaos inside Russia and even the Prego surrounding the headquarters that oversees the so called Southern military district headquarters that is overseeing the operations on the ground in Ukraine, unfortunately, has not had a significant effect on the front lines.
It does not appear.
So what Ukraine has to do really is to continue these probing attacks, this reconnaissance and force trying to find seams, trying to find areas that they can break through then to commit their main forces.
We still have seen only a very small number of the new nine or so Western equipped armored brigades.
And then of course, when they do that to achieve combined arms effects of tanks with infantry, with air defense, with engineers, with artillery mortars, electronic warfare drones out over the enemy, good command and control logistics right up behind them and follow on forces ready to exploit the opportunities that are created by the lead elements.
I think that will happen, but no one can predict when they might find this opportunity.
Could it be around Baku from which of course, the Prigozhin Wagner group was withdrawn after its success.
The only success in the winter offensive that cost them some 20,000 lives.
A staggering loss.
Will that be the location or will it be a little bit further southwest down around the Zappos area?
Perhaps the border with Donetsk again, that's what they're trying to find out right now and they know we discussed this when I was in Ukraine.
They have very clear eyes about the assessments about the strength of these defensive positions, the multiple lines of minefields, obstacles, trenches and so forth and breaking through.
Those is very, very challenging in that very open terrain that characterizes the geography in that part of Ukraine, General David Petraeus.
So grateful for your time this morning for your expertise.
Appreciate it.
Good to be with you, Dana.
Thank you.