Russian President Vladimir Putin said moves taken by Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime ally, to bring his troops into a key Russian city amounted to a "stab in the back."

Putin didn't mention Prigozhin by name, but said that "necessary orders have been given" to defend Russia in a recorded address aired on Russian television on Saturday.

"Actions that divide our unity are in essence defeatism before one's own people," he said. "This is a stab in the back of our country and our people."

-ABC News' KJ Edelman

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed by the country's security agencies about what was referred to as an "attempted armed rebellion," according to Russia's state-run media.

The late-night statement from Putin's spokesman suggested that the Kremlin considered Wagner Group's move into Rostov-on-Don, a key Russian city close to the border with Ukraine, to be a "rebellion."

Wagner's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in an audio message on Friday claimed his forces would now punish Russia's defense minister and chief of general staff, telling other units to stand down and not offer resistance.

"Special services, law enforcement agencies, namely the Ministry of Defense, the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardiya, in round-the-clock mode, constantly report to the president on the measures taken in the context of the implementation of the instructions previously given to him," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.

-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova and Patrick Reevell

The Wagner Group is a private military organization run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, with tens of thousands of fighters, according to U.S. officials.

Earlier this year, the U.S. labeled the group a "significant transnational criminal organization" and levied new sanctions, while human rights observers this week said they suspected Wagner fighters were linked to the mass killing of people in Mali last year.

Government reports, statements from U.S. officials and insights from experts, as well as other sources, shed light on the Wagner group's history and goals, its alleged wrongdoings and its importance to Russia -- in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.

-ABC News’ Nathan Luna, Leah Vredenbregt and Ivan Pereira

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, said on Saturday that the headquarters of the Southern Military District and all military facilities in Rostov-on-Don were under his control.

Prigozhin in a video demanded that Kremlin bring him Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Sergei Shoigu.

He also threatened in the video that he would go to Moscow.

"We will destroy anyone who stands in our way," he said in one of a series of video and audio recordings posted on social media.

He added, "We are moving forward and will go until the end."

Coming off a "very productive summit" with NATO allies, President Joe Biden offered a forceful dismissal of Vladimir Putin’s efforts to capture Ukraine during a joint press conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

"There is no possibility of him winning the war in Ukraine. He's already lost that war," Biden said.

Biden has made similar statements before about Putin’s chances of success, though it’s particularly notable coming off of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top military officials Wednesday.

Biden wouldn’t give a timeline for how long he thinks the war can continue, but he ruled out a yearslong offense.

"I don't think the war could go on for years for two reasons. No. 1, I do not think that Russia could maintain the war forever -- No. 1 in terms of their resources and capacity. No. 2, I think that there is going to be a circumstance where eventually, President Putin is going to decide it’s not in the interest of Russia economically, politically or otherwise to continue this war," Biden said.

"But I can't predict exactly how that happens," he continued. "My hope is and my expectation is you’ll see that Ukraine makes significant progress on their offensive and that it generates a negotiated settlement somewhere along the line."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Cheyenne Haslett