Biden jokes that if he were Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin he would be 'careful what I ate'

• Biden made light of the situation that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin now finds himself in.
• Prigozhin led a failed coup after repeatedly criticizing Russian defense leaders.

President Joe Biden joked on Thursday that if he were embattled Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin he would be careful in the wake of the fallout from a failed coup.

"We're not even sure where he is and what relationship he has," Biden told reporters of Prigozhin's currently murky status. "If I were he, I would be careful what I ate. I would be keeping an eye on my menu."

There have been conflicting reports of Prigozhin's status since he ended the brief rebellion last month. Putin has called the leaders of the coup traitors, though the Kremlin claimed earlier this week that Putin met with Prigozhin on June 29.

Biden said it's difficult for anyone to know what the future holds for Prigozhin.

"But all kidding aside, who knows? I don't know, I don't think any of us know for certain what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia," he said. "So, I don't know how to answer that question beyond that."

Prigozhin's Wagner force was a core component of Russia's armed forces against Ukraine. The mercenary group was instrumental in taking control of Bakhmut. But Prigozhin began to sour over Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's strategy for the war.

Biden, who was speaking just after the end of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, said what is clear is that Putin will not win his war against Ukraine.

"There is no possibility of him winning the war in Ukraine," Biden said during the news conference in Helsinki alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. "He has already lost that war."