Ukraine Russia – live: CIA director William Burns ‘called Kremlin’ after Wagner mutiny

CIA director William Burns reportedly called Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group.

The phone call to the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service was to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in the Wagner group’s aborted rebellion, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal said.

“The US wasn’t involved,” one official said about the CIA message to the Kremlin. “This is an internal Russian matter,”

The White House declined to comment, saying they will not get into specifics of “individual diplomatic discussions”.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of “extremely active” weeks ahead as Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive to reclaim territories from the Russian army.

He said the counteroffensive is making progress in all directions, adding that his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops in a separate interview.

Earlier, a leading think tank said Vladimir Putin may take “formal control” of Wagner forces in Ukraine – and beyond – following the failed rebellion by the mercenary group.

Key Points

• CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

• Putin’s forces being pushed back ‘in all directions’

• Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

• Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘was told Wagner would no longer be fighting in Ukraine'

• Russian general Sergei Surovikin arrested after Wagner rebellion - report

• Death toll rises to 12 in Ukraine's Kramatorsk after Russian strike

• ‘Countdown has begun’ for end of Putin, claims Volodymyr Zelensky aide

CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

03:46 , Shweta Sharma

CIA director William Burns dialled Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in it, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Mr Burns’ phone call to his counterpart, who is the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, took place earlier this week. It was the highest-level contact between the two governments since the attempted mutiny, the Wall Street Journal said.

It comes after president Joe Biden said on Monday the brief uprising by Russian mercenaries against the Kremlin was part of a struggle within the Russian system and that the United States and its allies were not involved in it.

Ukrainian president says 21,000 Wagner troops killed by his forces

05:00 , Shweta Sharma

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops so far and thousands have been injured.

His comments came in an interview with the Spanish news outlet El Mundo on Thursday.

Mr Zelensky said over 80,000 Wagner group mercenaries have been injured in the fighting.

Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used

04:30 , Shweta Sharma

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said the Russian tactical nuclear weapon deployed in his country would never be used.

The Belarusian president, in an address marking his ex-Soviet state’s national day, said the stationing of the weapons in Belarus was “my firmest initiative”.

“As we move along, we become more and more convinced that they (the weapons) must be stationed here, in Belarus, in a reliable place,” Mr Lukashenko told a gathering in a large hall in an online broadcast by the state BelTA news agency, with many present waving red and green national flags.

“I am certain that we will never have to use them while they are here. And no enemy will ever set foot on our land.”

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday the deployment did not violate the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 as Russia retained control over the weapons. He told Russia’s Tass news agency the deployment had been “forced” on Russia.

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyiv’s ability to stand up to Russia.

Read the full story:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raging for 16 months, Ukraine is now pushing back with its long-awaited counteroffensive that has already recorded a number of gains.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Ukrainian troops for advancing “in all sectors”, having spent the day presenting awards to front-line soldiers in the east and south.

“Today in all sectors, our soldiers made advances. It is a happy day,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, which was delivered from a train after visiting two frontline areas.

Read more:

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Thomas Kingsley and Joe Sommerlad report:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

ICYMI: Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Saturday 1 July 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

On Thursday, a US official told CNN the White House is now also considering sending the munitions – something that would have a “significant battlefield impact”.

Read more:

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

Friday 30 June 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian court on Friday extended the pretrial detention of a theatre director and a playwright facing charges of justifying terrorism, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent in Russia that spiked after the start of the war in Ukraine.

The court ordered Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk held until 10 September; they have been behind bars since early May.

Authorities claim a play they staged, “Finist, the Brave Falcon,” justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Read more:

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Friday 30 June 2023 22:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali as demanded by the country’s military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has grappled with the insurgency for over a decade. It has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the ruling junta brought in the Wagner mercenaries who also have been engaged in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military last week.

Edith M. Lederer reports:

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Russia reducing military presence and personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 21:31 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed – with Kyiv having accused Moscow of plotting a “terrorist attack” at the facility.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said the number of military patrols were gradually decreasing around the vast site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and in the nearby city of Enerhodar. Meanwhile, personnel remaining at the plant – which is occupied by Moscow’s forces – had been told to blame Ukraine “in case of any emergency situations”.

“According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” GUR said on the Telegram messaging app.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Russia reducing military presence at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Poland fears Wagner in Belarus could destabilise region - FT

Friday 30 June 2023 21:04 , Eleanor Noyce

The Wagner group, which has relocated to Belarus, could use migrants from Africa and other places where the paramilitary group operates to destabilise Central and Eastern Europe, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Jacek Siewiera, head of Poland’s national bureau of security.

ICYMI: What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 21:02 , Eleanor Noyce

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

“The Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield,” Mr Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday this week, marking the first public acknowledgement of the missile’s use in the continuing war.

“Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault,” the defence minister said.

Read more:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Friday 30 June 2023 20:31 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, the top American military officer said Friday.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. has been thinking about providing the munitions “for a long time.” He noted that Russian troops are using them on the battlefield in Ukraine and that Ukrainian forces have received cluster bombs from other allies and have deployed the arms.

Milley said at the National Press Club that discussions are continuing. “The Ukrainians have asked for it, other European countries have provided some of that, the Russians are using it,” Milley said. “There’s a decision making process ongoing.”

Read more:

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Russia's top diplomat Lavrov sees no reason to extend Black Sea grain deal

Friday 30 June 2023 20:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia said on Friday it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal beyond 17 July because the West had acted in such an “outrageous” way over the agreement, but assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine - something it calls “a special military operation” - and its blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The deal allows food and fertiliser to be exported from three Ukrainian ports - Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny). The agreement has been extended three times.

“The attitude of the West towards this deal is outrageous,” Lavrov told reporters, pointing specifically to the positions of the United States and Britain.

Lavrov said one of the last straws for Russia was an attack on the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, an attack he blamed on Ukraine which has in turn accused Russia of damaging it.

“I don’t see what arguments there can be by those who would like to continue the Black Sea initiative,” Lavrov said.

The United Nations on Friday said it was concerned no new ships had been registered under the Black Sea deal since June 26 - despite applications being made by 29 vessels - and called on all parties to “to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay.”

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Friday 30 June 2023 19:25 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyiv’s ability to stand up to Russia.

Read more:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

Friday 30 June 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries over the weekend raised hopes that the turmoil in Russia would dramatically propel Ukraine’s offensive to recapture territory occupied by Moscow.

The rebellion humiliated Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and rattled his regime as forces marched on Moscow, before turning around after a last-minute deal, meaning the Kremlin did not have to redeploy troops from Ukraine to tackle the insurgency.

Ukraine is mounting attacks in a number of areas along the 965km (600 miles) frontline, but that progress will not be easy. A Ukrainian colonel told The Independent his country’s forces have to deal with multiple lines of defence constructed by the Russians in the build-up to the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraine’s army about Kyiv’s counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow – and hard-earned:

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

Donetsk region school suffers direct hit, two dead, say Ukraine police

Friday 30 June 2023 18:55 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian missile attack on Friday on a village school near the frontline in Ukraine‘s eastern Donetsk region killed two women, including a teacher, and injured six, Ukrainian police said.

The 56-year-old primary school teacher and a chief accountant, 44, died in the strike on the village of Serhiivka, Ukrainian police said. Twelve employees were the building’s only occupants, the prosecutor’s office said. Ukrainian schools were not in session for students on Friday.

“Russian troops, in a direct hit, destroyed a school where civilians were located,” Ukraine‘s national police said in a statement.

The Donetsk region prosecutor’s office said four men aged 54 to 69 and two women aged 24 and 34 were injured and taken to hospital, and that it had launched an investigation into the attack.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify details of the attack.

Police shared a video showing a motionless, bloodied person being lifted into an ambulance, and a woman being extracted from extensive ruins.

Groups of men, some in civilian clothing, others emergency workers in helmets, and uniformed police, walked atop the ruins, searching for survivors. Two men carefully laid a piece of green army fabric over a body.

The police said paramedics helped rescue two women from the rubble and that occupying Russian forces were responsible for the attack, which was preliminarily assessed to have been caused by an Iskander missile.

In pictures: Relatives of fallen Ukrainian servicemen attend rally in Kyiv

Friday 30 June 2023 18:27 , Eleanor Noyce

Relatives of Ukrainian servicemen killed in battle have attended a rally at Independence Square in Kyiv demanding the creation of a National Military Cemetery.

Some families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers have complained about a lack of progress in its creation amid a shortage of places to, in their view, provide their loved ones with an honourable burial.

Ukrainian counteroffensive slower than predicted, but advancing - US Army's Milley

Friday 30 June 2023 18:20 , Eleanor Noyce

The Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces is “going slower than people had predicted,” but is making steady progress, U.S. Army General Mark Milley said on Friday.

“It’s going slower than people had predicted. Doesn’t surprise me,” Miley told an audience at the National Press Club. “It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working its way through very difficult minefields, et cetera.”

UN concerned no new Black Sea grain deal ships since 26 June

Friday 30 June 2023 18:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The United Nations said on Friday it is concerned that no new ships have been registered since 26 June under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine.

“We call on the parties to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay,” U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

India’s PM ‘reiterates call for dialogue and diplomacy' in discussions with Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 17:54 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin and New Delhi said.

Moscow said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership’s decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

The Indian government said Putin, who will also join Modi on Tuesday for a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, informed the prime minister about the recent developments in Russia during their conversation.

The call comes after the United States and India declared themselves “among the closest partners in the world” last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi.

India has not condemned its old ally Russia over the invasion of Ukraine and have urged both sides to resolve their differences through diplomacy. Modi told Putin last year that “today’s era is not an era of war”.

“While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM (Modi) reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy,” New Delhi said in a statement.

The boss of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, shocked the world by leading Saturday’s armed revolt, only to abruptly call it off as his fighters approached Moscow.

India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, also spoke to his counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday on the failed mutiny, an Indian security establishment source said.

India remains dependent on Moscow for its defense needs and has sharply increased its imports of cheap Russian oil, frustrating the West.

Ukraine hopes to win over LatAm through Spain's EU presidency

Friday 30 June 2023 17:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine hopes to use Spain’s rotating EU presidency to try to “gain influence” in Latin America, where several countries have opposed Kyiv’s efforts to retake territory occupied by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Spanish media.

Speaking on Friday on the eve of a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as he kicks off the six-month rotating presidency, Zelensky said several unspecified countries had blocked an invitation extended to him by Sanchez to take part in an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels between 17 and 18 July.

“We have a peace formula, and Pedro has supported us a lot. He has a constant dialogue with Latin America and they listen to him, it’s a fact. But I’ll say frankly that some Latin American countries are blocking the decision and this invitation,” he said in remarks from Kyiv aired by state broadcaster TVE.

“I want them not only to join the peace formula, but to stand against war,” he added.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva irritated Western countries earlier this year when he suggested the West had been “encouraging” war by arming Ukraine.

In the interview, Zelensky also asked for a concrete plan for his country to join NATO.

Ukraine has been working with allies to build broad international support for a peace blueprint without territorial compromises.

Senior officials from Ukraine, G7 countries, the EU and nations such as Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey met on Saturday in Denmark for talks on the concept, and said they had made some progress, but any summit to endorse a document was at least months away.

Ukrainian and Western officials aim to rally a broad coalition behind the Kyiv government - including major countries that have decided not to give Ukraine military aid or impose sanctions on Russia - to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Friday 30 June 2023 16:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Did mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have inside help from the military and political elite in his armed rebellion that rattled Russia?

A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising are still unknown.

Uncertainty also swirls around the fate of Prigozhin and his Wagner private military forces, along with the deal they got from the Kremlin, and what the future holds for the Russian defense minister they tried to oust.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest unknown: Can Putin shore up the weaknesses revealed by the events of last weekend?

Read more:

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Russia to raise salaries for military by 10.5% - decree

Friday 30 June 2023 16:25 , Eleanor Noyce

The Russian government will increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5% from 1 October, a government decree published on the official web portal showed on Friday.

The move comes days after an abortive armed mutiny by the mercenary Wagner Group, which briefly took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow in what its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said was a protest against incompetence and corruption in Russia’s top brass.

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Friday 30 June 2023 16:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Key players in events stemming from last weekend’s armed rebellion in Russia include mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Gen. Sergei Surovikin.

The Associated Press reports:

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Russian watchdog blocks media outlets linked to Prigozhin - Kommersant

Friday 30 June 2023 15:51 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked media outlets linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group which staged a brief mutiny last Saturday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Friday.

Russian authorities have not outlawed the Wagner group following the abortive mutiny but under a deal that ended the crisis, its fighters have been given the option of being integrated into Russia’s regular armed forces, joining their leader in exile in Belarus or returning home.

Putin and Modi discuss Ukraine, armed mutiny on phone call - Kremlin

Friday 30 June 2023 15:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin said.

It said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership’s decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

Windfall from Russia's frozen assets in Europe could be $3 billion a year - Belgium

Friday 30 June 2023 14:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Belgium’s prime minister said on Friday the windfall profit from Russia’s frozen assets in Europe could provide 3 billion euro ($3.27 billion) a year to rebuild Ukraine.

While there is political consensus among European leaders to use these assets to pay for the reconstruction, the legality of how to extract these profits is complex and still needs to be researched in depth.

“We’re working on a method based on windfall profits ... If we find a stable legal platform we could use it for Ukraine,” PM Alexander de Croo told journalists at the European Council summit.

“A windfall profit system will be developed and the current estimation is that the total returns could be 3 billion euro a year.”

The bloc has said it has frozen more than 200 billion euros ($217.78 billion) of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Another 30 billion euros of Russian oligarchs’ private assets were also immobilised.

Mr De Croo said the bloc could not touch the assets themselves without jeopardising the financial system since they are cross-maintained between central banks. A large portion of the frozen assets are in Belgium.

“The Commission is working on it. It needs to be seen what the right legal basis is to do but we will be coordinating between different countries,” he said.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 14:30 , Matt Mathers

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Russia will emerge stronger after mutiny - Lavrov

Friday 30 June 2023 14:00 , Matt Mathers

Russia will emerge stronger after a failed mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries so the West need not worry about stability in the world’s biggest nuclear power, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Asked by Reuters if Russia was stable and if he could give assurances to the world that Russia was not slipping into turmoil, Lavrov said Moscow was not obliged to explain anything or give any assurances to anyone.

"If anyone in the West has any doubts, then that’s your problem," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. "Thank you for your concerns about our national interests, but there is no need."

"Russia has always emerged more resilient and stronger after any difficulties - and it is hard to call it anything more than difficulties," he added. "Moreover, we already feel that the process has started."

Poland detains Russian hockey player on suspicion of spying

Friday 30 June 2023 13:28 , Matt Mathers

Polish authorities have detained a Russian hockey player competing in a top Polish league on suspicion of spying, officials have said.

"Russian spies are falling one by one," said Zbigniew Ziobro, justice minister and chief prosecutor, on Friday.

"A spy who operated under the guise of an athlete was caught."

Mr Ziobro said the suspect played for a first league club and was the 14th member of a spy network to be arrested in the Nato country.

The National Prosecutor’s Office said the man, who was arrested on June 11, is accused of participating in an organised crime group and acting on behalf of foreign intelligence against the interests of Poland.

Such acts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Watch: Military expert explains how Ukraine’s new Storm Shadow cruise missiles workwill

Friday 30 June 2023 13:04 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

Friday 30 June 2023 12:20 , Matt Mathers

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraine’s army about Kyiv’s counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow – and hard-earned.

Read the full piece here:

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 12:05 , Matt Mathers

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, the 1,300kg Storm Shadow travels at speeds of more than 600mph, is just over five metres long and has a wingspan of three metres.

After launch, the weapon, equipped with its own navigation system, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking on to its target using an infra-red seeker.

Arpan Rai and Cameron Henderson report:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans

Friday 30 June 2023 11:45 , Matt Mathers

Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.

The charges brought by Ukraine’s prosecutors follow a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Children’s Home.

"It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Children’s Home were forcibly displaced, deported," Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of children’s interests in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office told Reuters. "We don’t know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is."

Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines

Friday 30 June 2023 11:12 , Matt Mathers

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The group called on Ukraine’s government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

"The Ukrainian government’s pledge to investigate its military’s apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch’s arms director, said in a statement.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraine’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.

Friday 30 June 2023 10:30 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine troops are “advancing in all directions”, the country’s deputy defence minister has said.

“If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions,” Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television.

Kyiv launched its counteroffensive earlier this month and has since retaken control of a cluster of villages in southeast Russia.

Kremlin could take ‘formal control’ of Wagner

Friday 30 June 2023 09:53 , Chris Stevenson

Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin may seek to take "formal control" of the Wagner mercenary group and turn it into a state-owned enterprise in the wake of the armed uprising over the weekend – with the group operating in countries such as Syria, Mali and the Central African Republic in addition to Ukraine.

Sergei Vershinin, the Russian deputy foreign minister, reportedly flew to Syria to tell Bashar al Assad, the president, that Wagner will no longer operate as an independent organisation in the country, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Representatives of the Russian foreign ministry also reportedly told Faustin-Archange Touadera, president of the Central African Republic, and Malian leadership that Wagner will continue operations in their respective countries, it added.

"Putin claimed on June 27 that the Kremlin 'fully funds' and 'fully supplies' Wagner, and Russian officials may use Wagner’s existing status as a state-financed and supplied organisation to complete its formal nationalisation," the thinktank said in its latest update.

"The nationalisation of Wagner would likely aid in the Russian Ministry of Defence's effort to subsume existing Wagner personnel into the regular Russian Armed Forces through contracts.

"The Kremlin may intend to assume formal control over the Wagner Group following its armed rebellion and turn it into a state-owned enterprise, although it is not clear if the Kremlin has committed itself to such a course of action."

Footage appears to show explosions in Berdyansk

Friday 30 June 2023 09:13 , Matt Mathers

Video shared online appears to show explosions in the occupied city of Berdyansk.

On the Telegram messaging app, one of the Russian-imposed leaders in occupied Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, shared the clip with this message:

According to preliminary data, the Ukrainian armed forces militants tried to strike this morning with Storm Shadow missiles.

The series of explosions heard is the result of the work of the Russian air defence, which successfully repelled an enemy attack on civilians on the outskirts of the city.

The clip has not been independently verified:

Russia reducing personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Ukrainian intelligence

Friday 30 June 2023 08:56 , Matt Mathers

Russia is gradually reducing the number of personnel at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Friday.

It did not say why some people had left and Reuters could not independently verify the information. Russia, which has occupied the plant since March 2022, did not immediately comment on the assertion.

Kyiv accused Russia this month of planning a "terrorist" attack at the nuclear plant involving the release of radiation. Moscow denied the accusation.

"According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said on the Telegram messaging app.

GUR said that among the first to leave the nuclear power station were three employees of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom who had been "in charge of the Russians’ activities".

Russia’s true military expenditure ‘uncertain’ due to ‘lack of transparency’

Friday 30 June 2023 08:12 , Matt Mathers

Russia’s true military expenditure remains “uncertain” due to a lack of “transparency”, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

The MoD said in a statement: “In a June 2023 report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) assessed that Russia’s military spending budget for 2023 is around 6.6 trillion rubles (USD $85.8bn).

“This equates to about 4.4 per cent of Russian GDP compared with 3.6 per cent in 2021, before the invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia’s true military expenditure remains uncertain due to a lack of transparency, including the use of classified budget lines, which account for approximately 22 per cent of the Russian Government’s total budget.

“Although only part of the defence budget is spent on the war in Ukraine, the increase in spending highlights the cost of Russia’s activity in Ukraine.

“In addition, Russia almost certainly faces extra direct budgetary defence costs due to the war, including security expenses in the occupied regions and defensive measures in regions bordering Ukraine.”

Hungary opposes EU plan to grant more money to Ukraine -PM Orban

Friday 30 June 2023 07:52 , Matt Mathers

Hungary rejects the European Commission’s plans to grant more money to Ukraine and is not willing to contribute additional money to finance the EU’s increased debt service costs, prime minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Orban, speaking on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, said it was a "ridiculous" request from the Commission that Hungary should contribute more money, when Budapest - along with Poland - has not received funds from the EU’s Recovery Fund amid a rule of law dispute.

The European Union will provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54.30 billion) in aid for 2024-27, the bloc’s president said on June 20. This comes after a review of the EU’s 2021-27 shared budget, which has been depleted by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and an energy crisis. High inflation and interest rates have also doubled debt-servicing costs.

"One thing is clear, we Hungarians ... will not give more money to Ukraine until they say where the previous around 70 billion euros worth of funds had gone," Orban said.

"And we find it utterly ridiculous and absurd, that we should contribute more money to finance debt service costs of a loan, from which we have still not received the funds we are entitled to get."

Ukraine eyeing edge as Russian army distracted by infighting

Friday 30 June 2023 06:52 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putin’s power in more than two decades.

After postponing the ambush on Vladimir Putin’s fighters, Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right.

A battalion of Kyiv’s 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers, in darkness.

By the time the Russians situated along the front line realized they were under attack, it was too late.

Ukraine’s recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10 encapsulates the opening strategy of a major counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory and battlefield intelligence.

“We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly,” said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

Ukraine aims to wear down and outsmart a Russian army distracted by infighting

New evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines seen, says HRW

Friday 30 June 2023 06:25 , Arpan Rai

Fresh evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022 has emerged from the war-hit nation, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

The evidence comes from Ukrainian forces’s use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.

“The Ukrainian government’s pledge to investigate its military’s apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians,” Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch’s arms director, said in a statement.

The group called on Ukraine’s government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines “violates international humanitarian law... because they are inherently indiscriminate,” the report said.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ in wake of Wagner mutiny

Friday 30 June 2023 05:21 , Arpan Rai

Russia’s most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries – with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

A New York Times report, based on a US intelligence briefing, said on Tuesday that Mr Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that Russian authorities were checking whether he was complicit.

Read the full story here:

Mystery surrounds fate of Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ in wake of Wagner mutiny

Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

Friday 30 June 2023 04:38 , Arpan Rai

Pentagon has said Russian mercenary Wagner Group is operating in Ukraine despite pulling out of the war-hit nation and claiming to hand over control to Russian defence ministry fighters last month.

“...on Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

He was answering a question in press briefing on a new home for Wagner Group in southern Belarus as per the satellite image from a former military base.

“As it relates to Belarus, I don’t have any updates to provide on that front. I’ve seen the press reports that you’re talking about. Clearly, that’s something that we’ll continue to keep an eye on,” he said.

The official added that in terms of the future of Wagner Group, it’s a question “best addressed by Russia”.

“That's really a question best addressed by Russia, which of course, as you know, funds the Wagner Group, and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this, this conflict and – and elsewhere around the world, since, you know, as your colleague highlighted earlier, they also conduct operations in Africa, as well as Syria. So that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It's just too early to tell right now,” he said.

Trump says aborted mutiny ‘somewhat weakened’ Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 03:59 , Arpan Rai

Former US president Donald Trump said his ally Vladimir Putin was “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

“You could say that he’s (Putin) still there, he’s still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people,” he said.

“I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war,” Mr Trump, a long-time admirer of the Russian president, said.

The Republican leader did not rule out conceding of territory to Russia, which it has captured in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, by Kyiv, adding that the continuing war needs a negotiator.

Mr Trump and Mr Putin were allies during his tenure at the White House.

Everything would be “subject to negotiation”, if he were president, Mr Trump said, but added that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have “earned a lot of credit.”

“I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they’ve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don’t have that right now,” he said.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Friday 30 June 2023 03:00 , Joe Middleton

Dressed in white and yellow protective suits and armed with devices to detect radiation levels, Ukrainian emergency workers took part in a drill Thursday to prepare for a potential risk of radiation leakage from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Dozens of civilians joined the drill on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.

In a tent set up to provide first aid, emergency workers practiced hosing people down with soap and going through the motions of administering treatment to individuals who play-acted victims from possible radiation-affected areas.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

Friday 30 June 2023 02:00 , Joe Middleton

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraine’s army about Kyiv’s counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow – and hard-earned

Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putin’s weakened but far from finished

Friday 30 June 2023 01:00 , Joe Middleton

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst it’s tempting to conclude his days are numbered, it’s important to resist the spin

In the wake of mutiny, Putin’s weakened but far from finished | Mary Dejevsky

Mystery surrounds fate of Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ in wake of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:59 , Joe Middleton

Russia‘s most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries – with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ in wake of Wagner mutiny

Prigozhin face masks on sale in St Petersburg

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:00 , Sam Rkaina

The Wagner fighters - who have spearheaded some of Russia’s military actions in Ukraine - were cheered enthusiastically by residents in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday when they briefly took control of the southern Russian city. President Vladimir Putin described their actions as “treason” and “a stab in the back”.

People have also been purchasing other regalia, such as keyrings, on Wildberries’ rival Ozon.

“Very beautiful and original keyring,” wrote one five-star reviewer. “In memory of all those in Wagner’s ranks who died.”

Large numbers of Wagner fighters - including many former convicts granted their freedom in exchange for serving in Ukraine - have been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Wildberries and Ozon declined to comment on Thursday on the surge in merchandise prices.

Elsewhere, Prigozhin face masks were on sale in St Petersburg, alongside those of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

Under Saturday’s deal that ended the mutiny, fighters of the Wagner group were allowed to join their leader Prigozhin in exile in Belarus, to be integrated into Russia’s regular armed forces or to return to their families.

Prices for Wagner merch surge after mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 22:00 , Sam Rkaina

Online prices for merchandise bearing the insignia of Russia’s Wagner group - a human skull against a black and red backdrop - have shot up since its abortive armed mutiny, with buyers posting five-star reviews and support for the mercenaries.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin sent an armed convoy on a 1,200-km (750-mile) charge towards Moscow in protest over what he said was the incompetence and corruption of Russia’s military leadership. A deal brokered by the leader of Belarus abruptly halted the mutiny late on Saturday.

E-commerce leader Wildberries’ weekly price breakdowns showed how costs have risen. A patch depicting the skull that can be sewn onto clothes fetched 525 roubles ($6) in the period June 25-29, up sharply from 294 roubles during June 18-25.

“Due to the situation in the country, the purchase was spontaneous,” wrote one buyer, Tatiana.

Prices for a black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a Wagner fighter holding a violin jumped this week to 1,650 roubles from 1,236 roubles.

On a review of a Wagner flag on Wildberries, one buyer, Vladimir, said: “The Wagner Private Military Company is the best. Good luck to you guys. The flag is excellent.”

Questions over whether Zelensky will attend Nato summit

Thursday 29 June 2023 21:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine believes its fight against Russia’s invasion demonstrates it is worthy of NATO admission and has also shown it is already a key part of transatlantic security.

One of the subplots in the summit’s run-up is whether Zelensky will attend.

The Ukrainian leader has said he sees “no point” in going to the summit if Kyiv is not given a “signal” at the meeting. His chief of staff said this week that Zelensky would decide on the eve of the summit whether or not to go.

His absence would overshadow any show of Western unity at the summit. The West has poured in vast amounts of military and financial assistance to help Ukraine hold its own against Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.

But not turning up would also deprive Kyiv’s leadership of valuable face time with the leaders of Ukraine’s staunchest backers.

The final outcomes of major summits are typically the product of long-running negotiations and are often finalised shortly before the summit formally begins.

“If there is no result at the Vilnius summit, he doesn’t have reason and time to go,” said Zhovkva.

Asked what the threshold was for Zelensky to attend, Zhovkva cited a speech to parliament in which the Ukrainian leader spoke of the importance of courage in today’s world.

“The president will not travel ... to the summit if the leaders will tend to or will show a deficit of courage, while Ukraine with all its courage, will and strength and high morale is fighting against Russian aggression,” he said.

Zhovkva pointed to the cases of Finland and Sweden who applied for membership last year. Finland has already since become a member.

“When Finland and Sweden submitted an application for membership last year, immediately in June last year the allies responded to the application ... inviting them to membership with NATO,” he said.

Asked how close Ukraine was to receiving an invitation now, he said: “We are closer than we were half a year ago. And still some time is left; much time is left in reality...”

Ukraine wants invite to join Nato

Thursday 29 June 2023 20:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine wants to receive an invitation to begin the process of joining NATO at the military alliance’s summit next month, and President Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend if leaders do not show “courage”, a presidential aide said on Thursday.

Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Kyiv wanted the July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius to deliver a response to the application for NATO membership that Ukraine filed on Sept. 30 last year. “This application is now on the tables of the leaders of NATO allies.

The Vilnius summit would be a very good start to respond to this application. And by respond, we mean invitation for membership, which is only the first stage,” he said.

Kyiv’s allies are divided over how fast Ukraine should join NATO and some Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.

In an interview in the heavily guarded president’s office in the Ukrainian capital, the Zelensky aide said Kyiv recognised it cannot join the 31-member bloc while Russia is waging war on Ukraine.

“What we are asking for is to start the procedure,” he said, banging the table at one point to drive his point home.

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putin’s weakened but far from finished

Thursday 29 June 2023 19:00 , Sam Rkaina

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst it’s tempting to conclude his days are numbered, it’s important to resist the spin.

If the minute-by-minute dramas of last weekend in Russia seem both a long way away and a long time ago, that is because a great many people want you to think that, or want you to see it in a new light. I can hardly remember a single episode in recent years that has passed so quickly from reality to myth – and competing myths at that.

But first, what is the actual situation in terms of politics and power now that the immediate dust has settled? Vladimir Putin is back in the Kremlin and wants you to know that he is in charge; that his authority is intact, and that he remains determined to run Russia and continue the war against Ukraine.

Click here for Mary’s full view.

Russian ambassador rules out Swiss-mediated peace talks

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:56 , Andy Gregory

Russia could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined European Union sanctions against Moscow, the Kremlin’s ambassador has said, claiming that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.

Earlier this month, Volodymyr Zelensky had suggested in a speech to the Swiss parliament that the country could act as a mediator.

But in an interview with Le Temps newspaper, Sergei Garmonin said Russia would not accept that Switzerland, which traditionally has served as a location for high-level talks between feuding powers, host such a summit.

“Swiss representation and mediation are out of the question,” Mr Garmonin said. “Switzerland has unfortunately lost its status as a neutral state and can no longer act as a mediator or as a representative of interests.”

Ukraine ‘ready for challenges’ posed by Russia after Zaporizhzhia drill

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:29 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine is “ready for the challenges” Russia posed, its deputy energy minister has said, as Kyiv conducted nuclear disaster drills near the Zaporizhiza power plant – where it claims Russia may be planning a “terrorist” attack involving the release of radiation.

Yuriy Malashko, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region that includes the plant, said the drills in Zaporizhzhia city and the district around it were intended to coordinate the response of all services to an “emergency situation” at the plant.

Footage broadcast by Reuters showed rescuers in yellow and white protective gear and gas masks, using dosimeters to check passenger cars and trucks for radiation levels and then cleaning wheels before vehicles underwent additional decontamination at specialised washing points. A man on a stretcher was brought into a medical tent as sirens blared.

“Of course, it is scary. I fear for my family, my child, What do we do? It is very scary,” Tetyana, 45, told the news agency of the threat of a real disaster as rescuers checked her for radiation in the drill.

Officials and civil defence forces worked on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population.

“We have assumed the worst scenario, in which the contamination zone will be bigger than 50 kilometres. This would mean four regions would be affected,” Yurii Vlasenko, a deputy energy minister, said, adding that the results of the drill were good and Ukraine was “ready for the challenges” Russia posed.

Nato members closing in on compromise on Ukrainian accession, says US ambassador

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:04 , Andy Gregory

Nato members are closing in on a compromise on Ukraine’s membership aspirations which may set out how Kyiv could join the military alliance, Washington’s ambassador has said.

Ukraine has been pressing Nato to declare at a summit in Vilnius next month that Kyiv will join the alliance soon after Russia’s war comes to an end and to set out a roadmap to membership.

The US diplomat, Julianne Smith, said she was confident Nato would agree on a text that went beyond a declaration in Bucharest from 2008, which said Ukraine would join the alliance but did not say when or how.

“Most of us feel confident that we are going to be able to come to an agreement that will reflect where we are and that the Ukrainians will believe and feel is something above and beyond restating Bucharest,” Ms Smith told reporters.

Ms Smith said the text on Ukraine, intended to be issued as part of a communique at the Vilnius summit, was still under negotiation and she declined to share precise language. But asked if it could address the question of how Ukraine would join the alliance, she replied: “It could, yes. I think that’s possible.”

Ms Smith said the text could be agreed before the summit, to which Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited.

Nato should consider allowing Ukraine to skip key membership requirement, says Ben Wallace

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:45 , Andy Gregory

Nato should look at allowing Ukraine to bypass a major requirement for joining the alliance, Britain’s defence minister Ben Wallace has said.

Any move to ditch or circumvent the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as part of its pathway to joining the alliance – which is designed to help candidates meet certain political, economic and military criteria – could speed up Kyiv’s accession.

“I think we should absolutely look at skipping the Membership Action Plan,” Mr Wallace said at a joint press conference alongside his Canadian counterpart in London.

“But of course, we have to put some realism in this space that there are 31 members of Nato now and, you know, we have to all move together.”

Mr Wallace said he could not guarantee agreement on that step ahead of next month’s Nato summit in Lithuania, but said it could be possible to remove other barriers to their membership.

Visiting Ukraine ‘steels my resolve to do my part’, says Pence

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:22 , Andy Gregory

Visiting Ukraine “steels my resolve to do my part”, US presidential hopeful Mike Pence has said, as he became the first Republican candidate to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The former vice president has been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin and full-throated supporter of Ukraine, as he challenges his former boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, who has declined to say that he wants Ukraine to win the war, instead calling for a negotiated solution.

Mr Pence currently trails Mr Trump by over 30 points in most polls among Republican primary voters, who will chose next year's candidate.

Prigozhin mutiny will have visible ‘aftershocks’, say Western leaders

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:07 , Andy Gregory

Yegnevy Prigozhin’s shortlived mutiny has shown “deep cracks” in Vladimir Putin’s regime and will cause visible “aftershocks”, Western leaders have claimed, as they gathered for a meeting in Brussels.

“The mutiny we saw at the weekend demonstrates that there are cracks and divisions within the Russian system. At the same time, it is important to underline that these are internal Russian matters,” said Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on arrival at the summit.

EU leaders agreed. “This showed deep cracks in Putin’s system. This mutiny of last weekend will also have aftershocks that we will see,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania insisted it was all the more reason to take a robust posture toward Vladimir Putin.

“Some colleagues sometimes say that a strong Putin is less dangerous than a weak Putin. I don’t agree with that. We have to move forward and be decisive, because now is a crucial moment of history,” he said.

Mike Pence meets with Zelensky in Kyiv, report claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 15:37 , Andy Gregory

Former US vice president Mike Pence has met with Volodymyr Zelensky in a visit to Kyiv, NBC News reports.

Mr Pence formally launched his US presidential campaign earlier this month, in doing so taking on his old boss Donald Trump, after their relationship came to a bitter end during the 6 January riots at the Capitol building in Washington.

Two civilians killed in Russian shelling of Kherson refuge point, authorities say

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:49 , Andy Gregory

Two people have been killed and two others wounded in Russian shelling of a refuge for civilians known as an invincibility point in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Thursday, the regional governor said.

“Two local people were killed and two more are in hospital in moderate condition,” governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Satellite images of Belarus military base chime with reports of new facilities for Wagner

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:30 , Andy Gregory

Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show new facilities have been set up in recent days – suggesting that a base for Wagner is being swiftly constructed.

Russian outlets have reported that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 50 miles from Minsk.

Images captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 2 satellites on Tuesday show rows of long structures in the nearby village of Tsel, in a field which had appeared empty just a fortnight prior.

EU security assurances would be in addition to military support, says Dutch PM

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:09 , Andy Gregory

The European Union still needs to decide the shape and form of the security assurances it wishes to give Ukraine, Dutch premier Mark Rutte has said, as he arrived at today’s meeting in Brussels.

“This European track would be additional [to military support],” Mr Rutte said.

“We will have to discuss how far it goes, and if it would be lethal or non-lethal support. And we have to take into account that several EU countries are not a member of Nato.”

Neutral EU states object to security assurances for Ukraine, says Austrian chancellor

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:48 , Andy Gregory

EU countries with a neutral foreign policy object to giving Ukraine outright security assurances, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said, ahead of a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

“For us as neutral states it is clear we can’t give security guarantees like that. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have made it clear they have objections,” Mr Nehammer told reporters.

“The role of the neutral states needs to be explicitly taken into account. We will certainly discuss this and we will find formulations that will be acceptable for us as well.”

BRICS summit to go ahead in South Africa despite Putin arrest warrant

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:29 , Andy Gregory

South Africa has announced it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so that Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations.

South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Mr Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine – which he denies.

Just 12 days after president Cyril Ramaphosa met with Mr Putin in Moscow, South Africa’s international relations department has now confirmed the summit will go ahead in South Africa from 22 to 24 August.

A spokesperson for the international relations department declined to comment to Reuters on whether or not Mr Putin will attend, with the department’s minister revealing on Tuesday that the Russian president had not yet replied to an invitation sent prior to the ICC’s charges in March.

Chinese president Xi Jinping, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are all said to be planning to attend.

British satirical newspaper takes aim at Putin-Prigozhin tensions

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:11 , Andy Gregory

Seizing the chance for a rare moment of levity in coverage of Ukraine, British fortnightly Private Eye has taken aim at the aborted coup by “Putin’s chef”, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Satirising an oft-used picture of Mr Prigozhin serving Mr Putin dinner, the magazine shows the Wagner chief serving up “coup of the day”, as the president complains of terrible “feud”.

Russia claims generals killed in Kramatorsk strike which ‘left four children dead'

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:55 , Andy Gregory

Russia claims to have killed two Ukrainian generals and 50 military officers in the attack on a Kramatorsk restaurant, which Kyiv authorities said had killed 12 people, including four children, two of them 14-year-old twin sisters.

Officials initially blamed the strike on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russia’s forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used – raising the prospect of a war crime under the principle of proportionality.

Kramatorsk is a front-line city which houses the Ukrainian army's regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as locals.

At least 61 people were wounded in the attack, which also damaged 18 multi-story buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Despite these reports, Russia’s defence ministry sought to claim on Thursday that two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 Ukrainian military officers had been killed in the strike, insisting that a temporary Ukrainian army command post had been hit in Kramatorsk.

Top EU diplomat suggests long-term Ukraine Defence Fund

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:29 , Andy Gregory

The European Union needs to consider turning the European Peace Facility that has been used to fund weapons for Kyiv into a more permanent tool to arm the country in the long term, the EU’s foreign policy chief has suggested.

“We talk about security commitments. From my side, it means military support for Ukraine has to have a long haul ... during the war and after the war,” Josep Borrell told reporters as he arrived for an EU summit in Brussels.

“So the European Peace Facility for Ukraine maybe has to become a Ukraine Defence Fund – the training has to continue, the modernisation of the army has to continue.”

Prigozhin told Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine, Russian MP claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:11 , Andy Gregory

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been told that he will be deprived of financing if his mercenaries do not sign contracts with the defence ministry, state news agencies have cited a senior parliamentarian as saying.

Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, an influential politician who chairs the lower house of parliament's defence committee, said Mr Prigozhin had refused to sign the contracts and was subsequently told that his mercenaries would no longer fight in Ukraine, Tass reported.

Ukraine conducting nuclear disaster drills near Zaporizhzhia plant, says regional governor

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:54 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine has started nuclear disaster response drills in the vicinity of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, regional officials said, where Kyiv has accused Moscow of planning a “terrorist” attack – which the Kremlin denies.

Yuriy Malashko, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region which includes the plant, which is Europe’s largest, said the drills had begun in the city of Zaporizhzhia and the district around it.

Similar exercises started in the neighbouring Kherson region, Kherson region governor Oleksander Prokudin said.

“The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he said Telegram, urging residents to remain calm.

Mr Prokudin said various officials and civil defence forces were working jointly on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population. Authorities were testing alert systems.

Kremlin says it does not know whereabouts of ‘General Armageddon'

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:25 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has declined to answer questions about General Sergei Surovikin, who is claimed in reports to have been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s weekend rebellion.

The former commander in Ukraine, nicknamed General Armageddon for his wanton tactics during the Syrian war, has been absent from view since Saturday, when he appeared in a video appealing to Mr Prigozhin to halt his mutiny.

He had looked exhausted in that video and it was unclear if he was speaking under duress. There have since been unconfirmed reports that he is being questioned by the security services.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the defence ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him.

Asked if Mr Surovikin still had Vladimir Putin’s trust, Mr Peskov said that, as commander-in-chief of Russia’s armed forces, Mr Putin worked with the defence minister and the chief of the general staff.

Mr Peskov said he did not have information about Mr Prigozhin’s whereabouts at the present time.

Strong support for Putin remains among Russians, Kremlin insists

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:06 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has insisted that there is continued strong support among Russians for its war in Ukraine and for Vladimir Putin.

Asked by reporters about a survey suggesting there was an equal number of people who supported negotiations to end the 16-month military operation in Ukraine and those who favoured continuing the conflict, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “The data we have show something quite different - dominant support for the special military operation and for the president.”

“The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president,” he added.

Full report: Russia ‘arrests General Armageddon’ over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:35 , Andy Gregory

A top Russian general has reportedly been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s weekend rebellion.

General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, has been missing since Saturday when Wagner’s troops launched an armed revolt.

The 56-year-old second-in-command of the Russian armed forces is said to be under interrogation. “Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhin’s side during the uprising” and they have gotten ahold of him,” the Moscow Times quoted a source as saying.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the full report:

Russia ‘arrests General Armageddon’ over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Aircraft shot down by Wagner ‘played key role in orchestrating’ Russian troops in Ukraine, says UK

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:24 , Andy Gregory

A “command and control” aircraft reportedly shot down by Wagner during its aborted mutiny “played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces” in Ukraine and will “undermine” Moscow’s ability to coordinate its troops, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has claimed.

In its latest update, the ministry said: “On 24 June, air defence forces of the Wagner private military company reportedly shot down Russian military helicopters and an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command post aircraft.

“The Il-22M is part of a relatively small fleet of up to 12 aircraft, heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks. These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine.

“As high value assets they have operated within the safety of Russian airspace, far beyond the range of Ukrainian air defence systems.

“The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations. In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force.

“In the longer term, there is a possibility that current tasking levels may have to be reduced to safely manage the remaining fleet. This will likely undermine Russia's ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations.”

Kyiv advancing ‘slowly but surely’ on frontlines as Russia ‘bringing in best reserves'

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:03 , Andy Gregory

Kyiv’s forces are advancing “slowly but surely” on the front lines in Ukraine’s east and southeast – and around Bakhmut – senior military officials have said.

Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhniy told top US general Mark Milley that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative”, and told him about weapons and demining equipment required by Kyiv’s forces.

“Ukraine’s defence forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances. The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses,” Zaluzhniy wrote on Telegram.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov told the Financial Times that the liberation of a group of villages was “not the main event” in the offensive.

His deputy Hanna Maliar noted advances towards the occupied cities of Berdiansk and Mariupol, telling a national broadcaster: “Every day, there is an advance. Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.”

She cited the recapture this week of the village of Rivnopol in the southeast, saying “mopping up operations were complete” and that the army was now well dug in – with the Russian military now diverting forces to both Bakhmut and the southern front.

“They are redirected their paratroops and assault brigades to both the south and the east,” she said. “They are bringing in their best reserves now.”

Watch: Footage shows of scale destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:45 , Andy Gregory

Kramatorsk death toll rises to 12

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:22 , Andy Gregory

Rescuers have pulled another body from the ruins of a restaurant in Kramatorsk, taking to 12 the death toll following a Russian missile strike, Ukraine’s emergency services said.

Three children were among the dead, while 60 more people were wounded, the authorities said.

EU shouldn’t ‘lower the bar’ to accommodate Ukraine, says Danish finance minister

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:54 , Andy Gregory

Denmark supports EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms, finance minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has said.

The EU risks “importing instability” if it relaxes its standards on democracy and corruption to hasten the accession of Ukraine and other candidate countries, Mr Rasmussen told the Financial Times.

Asked about Ukraine’s membership in the EU, Mr Rasmussen said that EU shouldn’t “lower the bar” but instead help Ukraine with investments and assistance to help it align with the bloc’s standards, the FT reported.

Although Ukraine met two of seven conditions to launch the EU membership process, an EU official familiar with the bloc’s recommendations to Ukraine told Reuters that some key judicial reforms were needed.

In 2019, the European Commission proposed changes to the system for letting new countries into the EU to give existing members more say, after countries including France and Denmark objected to the expansion of the EU to include six countries in the Balkans.

Mr Rasmussen said Denmark had reversed its position and was even open to internal EU reform, including more majority voting, to accommodate new members.

Papal envoy to meet Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, say reports

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:27 , Andy Gregory

Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday, the state-backed RIA news agency reported.

It comes a day after Mr Zuppi discussed humanitarian issues with Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, according to the Kremlin.

EU leaders to debate Russia mutiny today

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

EU leaders will debate today the repercussions of the aborted mutiny in Russia as they pledge further support for Ukraine in its war against Moscow’s invasion.

At a summit in Brussels, the leaders will also talk with Nato boss Jens Stoltenberg and discuss what role the EU could play in Western commitments to bolster Ukraine’s security.

Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas said the leaders were certain to discuss Saturday’s dramatic abandoned mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, even though it is not on the agenda of the summit or mentioned in drafts of its written conclusions.

“It will definitely come up,” she told reporters in Brussels on the eve of the two-day summit.

The West should not be swayed and continue to support Ukraine and bolster its own defences, Ms Kallas said.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, struck a similar note.“

Ever more in these circumstances, we will reassert our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through sustainable financial and military assistance,” he wrote in a letter inviting leaders to the summit.

Footage shows aftermath of Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Residents in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk are dealing with the aftermath of a Russian missile attack on a crowded pizza restaurant.

Footage shows the destruction on the streets of the city, which are covered in debris following the deadly attack on Tuesday evening.

The strike killed at least nine people, including three children, authorities said Wednesday, as rescue workers continued searching in the destroyed building’s rubble.

Another 56 people were injured, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Footage shows scale of destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

US sanctions gold companies suspected of supporting Wagner mercenaries

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US moved on Tuesday to punish companies accused of doing business with the infamous Russian mercenary army known as the Wagner Group, following the group’s insurrection attempt within Russia’s borders.

The move is not thought to be specifically related to the coup, however, instead being a response to Wagner’s participation in some of the bloodiest fighting taking place within Ukraine, where Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion last year.

A statement from the Treasury Department faulted companies in Africa and the Middle East for participating in a gold-selling scheme in violation of US sanctions to fund the Wagner Group’s ongoing activities. One executive at Wagner, Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, was also slapped with individual sanctions on his financial dealings.

John Bowden has more.