Well, it’s on. This is why you don’t use mercenaries or trust scum like Prigozhin.
Remember that Prigozhin is to the right of Putin, which is where the threat was always going to come from. If he does take over, it is unlikely to lead to an end to the Ukraine war (unless there’s a bloody civil war), it means gloves off.
The issue here is just how much of the Russian army will side with Putin. If it’s anything substantial, he wins. If not, he’s done. This is why Prigozhin emphasized not enough weapons, etc… it was a stab in the back narrative: “Putin won’t let us win the war.”
Putin played around with the war, unwilling to go all in and used Wagner as a prison to frontlines pipeline. That was a mistake.
We’ll see if it’s a fatal one. This is entirely a matter of morale—what the military will do.