. welcome back. we turn now to some of the morning s other headlines. russia s wagner merseinary group says it will now turn over the destroyed city of bakhmut to russia s armed forces. the group s leader says russia should not expect more help from his forces in the city, which has seen some of the worst heaviest fighting over the past year and was largely captured by the wagner group in recent days. the new york times reports a withdrawal by the group could mark the beginning of a new chapter in the struggle for that decimated city. it would put russia s official military against the ukrainian troops that have pushed back and advanced in the surrounding area around the town. to this point most of the fighting in the city on russia s side has been carried out by that mercenary group. elsewhere a six-week abortion ban is now in effect in the state of south carolina. yesterday republican governor henry mcmaster signed the new restriction into law, which says
Recent months after prosecutors successfully pierced his attorney-client privilege back in march. that decision was made by a judge who found that trump knowingly misled his own attorney about what classified documents he possessed. doj has not commented on the new reporting. in a statement to nbc news, a trump spokesperson called the department s investigation, quote, a politically motivated witch hunt against the former president. we ll have much more of this in the weeks ahead. still ahead, russia s wagner mercenary group says it s pulling out of bakhmut. what it means for moscow s army and the state of the war in ukraine. plus democratic senator bob menendez is the focus of a new investigation for expensive gifts he allegedly received from a new jersey business. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. check on sports and weather when we come right back
Let s bring back in david ignatius. david, i don t know, maybe i m overreading this, but i m not so sure i am. you have this leader of the wagner group constantly beraid berating putin s inner circle, berating his military, by extension berating putin himself. he goes in, and, you know, they lose maybe 100,000 mercenaries going in to hold down bakhmut. then he decides to abandon it, knowing that the russian army is not going to be able to hold it in the spring offensive. so this is a guy that s talking about revolution. he s talking about how there s chaos in russia, talking about how badly things are going, how russia can lose. it is almost as if he s trying to prove that himself by his retreat. joe, it s a bizarre
Strength because of its brand, but it s seen competition from turning point usa and other conservative conferences. it is a question of whether cpac fades away and becomes the rc cola of conferences. okay. i love rc cola. ben jacobs, thank you so much. appreciate you being here. thank you. now to russia. man, some crazy stuff going on there. russia s wagner mercenary group now is saying it s going to abandon bakhmut. it s going to turn it over to russia s armed forces, who they say can t hold the city. the group s leader says russia should not expect any more help from his forces in the city, which has seen some of the worst, heaviest fighting the past year. the news comes as the founder and the leader of the wagner mercenary group is also warning russia could lose the war in ukraine and face a revolution similar to that of 1917.
Growing more bullish about ukraine s chances here. they still think crimea is probably too far. that can t happen now, but they think ukraine can make real progress in the south and east. at minimum, go into potential negotiations. zelenskyy has to make that call, but it d be in more of a position of strength. people are looking at this, you know, as maybe a victory that the russians can put in the books as a win. boy, a victory with horrific costs. over 100,000 casualties some people are estimating. they were held down. they were bogged down while the ukrainians were getting ready for the spring offensive. it seems to me, especially when you see the wagner group talking about retreating and turning it over to a group of russian divisions that aren t going to be able to hold it. it s, again, sort of the
Thank you forjoining us. russia s wagner mercenary group says its forces have begun withdrawing from the ukrainian city of bakhmut. the head of the group yevgeny prigozhin says its positions are being transferred to the russian army. there s been no independent verification of the claim by mr prigozhin. the us estimates that more than 20 thousand russians have been killed in eastern ukraine since the start of the year. many of them fighting for bakhmut, where street to street fighting continues. 0ur defence correspondent, jonathan beale, met one ukrainian family who ve paid a heavy price for the defence of bakhmut. in ukraine, the funerals are as constant as the pounding of artillery. each soldier s death a sacrifice for the nation, a family s loss. but few like this an entire town in grief.
Entire g7 coalition. now, friday, the u.s. government announced a plan with its allies to provide f-16 fighter jets to ukraine s army. when and which countries will be providing them is not known yet. russia s deputy foreign minister says the move carried, quote, colossal risks. and right now, russia s wagner paramilitary group and its defense ministry claims russian forces captured bakhmut. ukraine rejected those claims, a u.s. official telling nbc news to take any claim from russia with, quote, a healthy dose of skepticism. more american voices for you right after this break. (woman #2) with an unlimited plan that s truly right for me. (woman #3) with verizon s new myplan, i get exactly what i want. and only pay for what i need. (man #2) now i m in charge. .of my plan. (vo) introducing myplan from verizon, the first and only plan where you choose what goes in, from apple music to disney bundle. so you get exactly what you want and only pay for what you need.
His country s war against russia. he s meeting with world leaders including a planned meeting with president biden sunday. zelenskyy will address the entire g7 coalition. now, friday, the u.s. government announced a plan with its allies to provide f-16 fighter jets to ukraine s army. when and which countries will be providing them is not known yet. russia s deputy foreign minister says the move carried, quote, colossal risks. and right now, russia s wagner paramilitary group and its defense ministry claims russian forces captured bakhmut. ukraine rejected those claims, a u.s. official telling nbc news to take any claim from russia with, quote, a healthy dose of skepticism. more american voices for you right after this break. only pay for what you need. with the money we saved, we tried electric unicycles. i think i ve got it! doggy-paddle! only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. a mystery! jessie loves playing detective. but the real mystery was her irritate
And the wagner group is different from traditional soldiers because they can just say, well, we re done. it didn t work out. we are not pleased about the conditions, so we re just going to pull out. whereas in traditional armed forces, soldiers have to keep fighting until the government says, stop, we re done. the world food programme has said that millions of dollars worth of food aid destined for sudan has been looted since fighting broke out last month. the wfp said pillaging in the country was rampant. meanwhile, president biden has issued an executive order authorising sanctions against sudan, saying the fighting must end. the latest ceasefire has failed to hold, with heavy fighting continuing in the capital khartoum and in nearby cities. as the conflict rages people continue to leave the country, and the un estimates more than 100,000 people have fled to sudan s neighbouring countries. more now on this from our africa correspondent catherine byaruhanga
And so instead of reporting it up the chain of command as as as happens in normal countries, he takes to social media to to complain and especially complain about the commander of the overall war effort and indeed of the armed forces and also complain about the defence minister. it truly is extraordinary. yeah. and when we think about the wagner group, elisabeth, we think of a brutalforce. and it sent chills down people s spines when they heard they were being deployed to ukraine to sort of fight some of this war for the russian army. so for this to now happen, for them to say we re going to pull out from after months and months of bitter fighting is also what s extraordinary. it is. and and as you say, when it was announced that the wagner group would be sent to to bermuda and indeed to other parts of ukraine, i think we all got worried because we know that these are not troops that are that are instructed in the use of the geneva conventions.