Zelenskyy seeks ‘political invitation’ for Ukraine to join NATO
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that kyiv was seeking a “political invitation” for the country to join NATO when leaders of the military alliance meet for a summit next month.
“There are many reasons for a political invitation for Ukraine to join the Alliance,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
—Karen Gilchrist
Hungary’s foreign minister says Russia is ‘managing the situation’ after attempted mutiny
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday that he has been assured by key leaders in Moscow that they are “managing the situation” in Russia.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | fake images
Hungary’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that he has been assured by key leaders in Moscow that they are “managing the situation” in Russia following an attempted mutiny by Wagner’s mercenary forces on Saturday.
Péter Szijjártó said he had spoken over the weekend with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.
“I have been in contact with Foreign Minister Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister Mantarov, who have assured me at the time that they are handling the situation,” he told CNBC’s Sam Vadas at the World Economic Forum annual conference in Tianjin, China. .
Szijjártó added that he had been in contact with colleagues in Belarus, who had informed him in advance about the deal to exile Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to Minsk.
“Whatever comes close to peace we support, whatever comes close to a threat of escalation we do not support,” he added.
—Karen Gilchrist
UN says Russia detained more than 800 civilians since conflict began
A UN monitoring mission in Ukraine said on Tuesday that Russian forces had rounded up more than 800 civilians and executed 77 since their full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The report also revealed that Ukraine had arbitrarily detained civilians on a much smaller scale, in violation of international law.
—Elliot Smith
Plane linked to Wagner boss Prigozhin lands in Belarus
A private commercial plane linked to Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin landed in Belarus on Tuesday, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.
The Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft, registration number RA-02795, matches the identification codes of the jet belonging to Prigozhin, according to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). landed early Tuesday morning near Minskhaving lifted off from St. Petersburg shortly after 1 a.m. local time (5 p.m. ET Monday), though it is not yet known who was on board.
Under the deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko over the weekend, which halted Wagner’s rebellion against Moscow, Prigozhin has effectively been exiled to Belarus. His exact whereabouts since the uprising are unknown.
—Elliot Smith
Russia’s FSB drops criminal case against rebels, state media report
Members of the Wagner Group prepare to depart from the Southern Military District headquarters and return to their base on June 24, 2023 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. (Photo by Feodor Larin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Fyodor Larin | Anadolu Agency | fake images
Russia’s FSB (Federal Security Service) has closed its criminal case against armed rebels involved in the failed Wagner Group mutiny over the weekend, state news agencies reported Tuesday citing the FSB’s Special Operations Center.
“In the course of the investigation of a criminal case initiated by the investigative department of the FSB of the Russian Federation on June 23 under article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the fact of armed rebellion, it was established that On June 24, its participants stopped actions directly aimed at committing a crime,” the security service said, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
“Taking this and other circumstances relevant to the investigation into account, on June 27 the investigating authority issued a resolution to close the criminal case.”
Fighters from the Wagner Group captured a military barracks in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday before advancing on Moscow.
However, the march of the private mercenary group came to a halt when Prigozhin reportedly reached a deal with the Kremlin, mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
RIA also reported on Tuesday that Wagner is preparing to hand over its heavy artillery to the Russian defense ministry.
—Elliot Smith
Gains for Ukraine’s air force near Donetsk, says UK Defense Ministry
Ukrainian air forces have made small advances east from the town of Krasnohorivka, near the city of Donetsk, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry.
“This is one of the first instances since the invasion of Russia in February 2022 in which Ukrainian forces have most likely recaptured an area of territory occupied by Russia since 2014,” the Defense Ministry said in an update on Tuesday.
“Recent multiple simultaneous Ukrainian attacks across the Donbas have probably overstretched the forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Chechnya operating in this area.”
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament on Monday that as part of its summer counter-offensive, Ukraine had already recaptured roughly 300 square kilometers, which he said was “more than Russia captured in its entire offensive.” of winter”.
—Elliot Smith
Zelenskyy hails Ukraine’s progress after his trip to the front
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ukrainian forces for advancing “in all directions” on Monday, after spending the day visiting and distributing awards to troops on the front lines in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
“Today, our warriors have advanced in all directions and it is a happy day,” the president said in a late-night video address, according to a translation.
—Elliot Smith
Putin honors Russian pilots killed in Wagner Group mutiny
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the country’s top security officials in Moscow on June 26, 2023.
Valery Sharifulin | Afp | fake images
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute Monday to the fighter pilots killed during the abortive Wagner Group mutiny over the weekend.
In a televised address, Putin’s first public remarks since Saturday’s armed rebellion, he thanked Russian citizens, police and security services for their unity and praised the fallen pilots for their “courage and sacrifice.”
This was Putin’s first acknowledgment of the deaths of the pilots after Wagner’s forces shot down Russian planes during the 24-hour revolt, but there is still no official word on how many planes were shot down and how many Russian pilots were killed.
—Elliot Smith
Putin addresses Russians, calls Wagner’s rebellion ‘criminal’
A screenshot captured from a video shows Russian President Vladimir Putin making a statement amid escalating tensions between the Kremlin and the head of the Wagner paramilitary group in Moscow on June 24, 2023.
Kremlin Press Office| Brochure | Anadolu Agency | fake images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered his first televised speech since Wagner Group mercenaries instigated a failed mutiny against Russian military leaders over the weekend.
Putin called the rebellion “criminal activity to divide and weaken the country, which now faces a colossal external threat,” meaning the international response to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian president said the organizers of the armed insurrection would be “brought to justice” but did not mention the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, by name.
He also offered apparent leniency to the hundreds of Wagner mercenaries who took part in the armed march from the southern city of Rostov to some 200 miles outside Moscow.
The speech did little to clarify what’s next for the Wagner Group or for the Russian military, which was unprepared for the speed and ease with which the rebel convoy traveled across the country on major highways.
In his speech, Putin insisted that his troops would have crushed the rebellion if he had gone ahead.
—Christina Wilkie
