Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the Moscow strikes has killed "huge" numbers of Wagner forces.
Accusing Russian military leadership of bombing his forces, Prigozhin also vowed to retailate and "stop" them.
He also called on Russians not to resist their forces, adding "this is a march of justice."
Russian defense chief Shoygu came to city of Rostov to "carry out operation to destroy Wagner," and used artillerymen and helicopter pilots, Wagner head Progozhin claimed.
The Russian Defence Ministry, on the other hand, quickly issued a statement saying Prigozhin's accusations "do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation".
The chief of mercenary group Wagner also said he had 25,000 troops under his command and urged others to join to resist Moscow's military brass.
"There are 25,000 of us and we are going to look into why there's total lawlessness in the country," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message, urging Russians to join his forces.
