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The Russian president has accused Yevgeny Prigozhin of “treason” after the warlord launched an uprising against Russia’s army, taking over at least one major Russian city,  the Guardian reported.

In an emergency televised address on Saturday morning, Vladimir Putin said “the fate of our people is being decided”, accusing the Wagner group headed by Prigozhin of “armed mutiny” and vowing to “neutralise” the uprising.

“It’s an attempt to subvert us from inside. This is treason in the face of those who are fighting on the front,” a visibly angry Putin told the Russian public.

“This is a stab in the back of our troops and the people of Russia.”

In videos posted on social media early on Saturday, Prigozhin said he was at the headquarters of the Southern Military District (SMD) in Rostov-on-Don and demanded the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, come to the city, 1,000km (620 miles) south of Moscow.

“We have arrived here, we want to receive the chief of the general staff and Shoigu,” Prigozhin said in one video, seated between two senior Russian generals. “Unless they come, we’ll be here, we’ll blockade the city of Rostov and head for Moscow.”

Images circulating widely online showed what appeared to be Wagner troops with tanks and armoured vehicles surrounding government buildings in Rostov, where Prigozhin appears to have taken over a Russian army base.

Several Russian media outlets also reported on Saturday that Wagner fighters had taken control of all military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about 310 miles south of Moscow.

Late on Friday, Prigozhin claimed a Russian rocket attack had killed scores of his fighters, vowing to take “revenge” and “stop the evil brought by the military leadership of the country”.