 Yevgeny Prigozhin, Ukraine's coming counter-offensive is more likely to succeed. Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin is setting information conditions to exploit a Russian military failure if the planned Ukrainian counter-offensive is successful. Prigozhin published an essay in which he argues that Ukraine's coming counter-offensive is more likely to succeed than fail. According to the Institute for the Study of War of US, Prigozhin warned that a selfish Russian deep state, which he defines as a community of near-state elites that operate independently of the political leadership of the state and have close ties and their own agenda, is currently in crisis due to the Russian military's failure to secure a victory quickly. He accused members of this deep state embedded in the Russian bureaucracy of deliberately sabotaging Russian success in the war because they seek to resume their privileged lives of comfort. Prigozhin stated that these Russian deep state internal enemies will push the Kremlin to make serious concessions tantamount to betraying Russian interests, including even possibly returning occupied Ukrainian territory to Ukraine over the course of a few years. Head of Wagner Group explicitly rejected the notion of any negotiations to end the war and urged Russians to continue fighting, even if it results in Russia's temporary defeat. Prigozhin stated that Russia must ignore the Russian deep state's temptations to cut Russian losses and settle. Prigozhin stated, the Russian military cannot stop fighting now, despite current Russian territorial gains because the Ukrainian state has transformed and occupied Ukraine is now politically opposed to the Kremlin. Prigozhin stated that Russia must continue to fight relentlessly in Ukraine, regardless of how adverse conditions become.