Ukrainian official says countdown to Kremlin regime has begun
Ukraine believes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership is coming to an end after recent tensions between Russian defense officials and the front-line paramilitary Wagner.
“I think the countdown has begun,” Andrey Yermak, a close adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told a news conference in Kiev. According to the BBC.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Putin’s former ally Wagner, briefly turned against Moscow over the weekend, in an unprecedented blow to the Kremlin regime, although the militia eventually withdrew.
Prigozhin accepted exile in Belarus in exchange for calling off the rebellion, which exposed deep cracks in Russian unity.
— Ruksandra Yodash
Lithuania buys air defense system for Ukraine
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says Lithuania has acquired two NASAMS air defense systems and will transfer them to Ukraine tweeted, On the eve of the NATO military alliance summit on July 11-12.
“Looking forward to more collective decisions in support of Ukraine #NATO A summit will be held in Vilnius,” the Lithuanian head of state added.
Ukraine has repeatedly requested donations of air defense units to protect its skies from Russian missiles, with an emphasis on the expensive Patriot system supplied by the United States.
— Ruksandra Yodash
Missile attack on restaurant in Kramatorsk kills at least eight
At least eight people were killed and 56 injured in a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. on the telegram sayaccording to Google Translate.
The death toll included three children.
A rescue operation to free more potential victims from the rubble is underway.
Sergei Kruk, head of Ukraine’s state emergency services, described the latest offensive as a “cynical missile attack” in twitter comments Via Google Translate.
CNBC was unable to independently verify developments on the ground.
— Ruksandra Yodash
Belarus president urges not to drive a wedge between him and Putin
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has advised government officials, analysts and bloggers in the country and Russia not to try to put him at odds with Moscow President and longtime ally Vladimir Putin. According to the Belarusian state agency Belta.
His comments came after Belarus offered a fragile sanctuary to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian paramilitary Wagner group, whose short-lived coup attempt against top Moscow officials failed over the weekend. Prigozhin reached an amnesty agreement with the Kremlin to live in exile in Belarus.
Reflecting on the start of the weekend’s talks with Prigozhin, Lukashenko said Wagner’s troops at the front were “very disaffected”, especially commanders who were acting under “pressure and influence” from paramilitary leaders, Berta reported on Tuesday.
— Ruksandra Yodash
Putin Addresses Russians, Calls Wagner Rebellion ‘Crime’
A still from a video shows Russian President Vladimir Putin making a statement amid escalating tensions between the Kremlin and the leader of Moscow’s paramilitary group Wagner, June 24, 2023.
Kremlin Press Office | Handout | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first televised address since Wagner Group mercenaries failed to instigate a mutiny against Russia’s military leaders over the weekend.
Putin called the insurgency a “criminal effort to divide and weaken the country, which is currently facing a huge external threat,” implying the international response to Putin’s illegal incursion into Ukraine.
The Russian president said the organizers of the armed rebellion would be “brought to justice”, but did not mention Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin by name.
He also showed apparent leniency to the hundreds of Wagnerian mercenaries who took part in an armed march some 200 miles from the southern city of Rostov to the outskirts of Moscow.
The speech did not clarify the next move of the Wagner Group or the Russian military, which was unprepared for the speed and ease with which rebel convoys could move through the country on major highways.
In his speech, Putin insisted that his army would crush the rebellion if it continued.
— Christina Wilkie
Plane linked to Wagner boss Prigozhin lands in Belarus
A private business jet linked to Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin landed in Belarus on Tuesday, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
The registration number of the Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft is RA-02795, which matches the identification number of the Prigorzhin aircraft, according to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).it landed near Minsk early Tuesday morningThe plane took off from St. Petersburg just after 1 a.m. local time (5 p.m. ET Monday), but it was unclear who was on board.
Wagner’s rebellion against Moscow ceased and Prigozhin was effectively exiled to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko over the weekend. His exact whereabouts have remained unknown since the uprising.
— Elliott Smith
Putin thanks Russian troops for preventing ‘civil war’
Last weekend, June 27, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russian military and secret service officials in Moscow, Russia, who were preventing the PMC Wagner Group from invading the Russian capital.
Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday thanked Russia’s military and security services for preventing what he said was a civil war as it faced an armed insurgency over the weekend.
Speaking inside the Kremlin, Putin told some 2,500 members of the army, security forces and National Guard that they had defended their “fatherland” from chaos.
“You have defended the constitutional order, the life, security and freedom of our citizens. You have saved our homeland from turmoil. In fact, you have stopped the civil war,” Putin said.
He added: “In this difficult situation, you have acted with precision and harmony, and with your actions you have demonstrated your loyalty to the Russian people and your military oath. You have demonstrated your responsibility for the destiny of the Motherland and its future. “
The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday that it disagreed with its assessment that the escalation led by Wagner’s mercenary group over the weekend had shaken Putin’s two decades of power.
Putin also told the crowd gathered in the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square that an unknown number of Russian military pilots had been killed while trying to stop the advance of the rebels.
“Our comrades-in-arms were fighting the insurgents, the pilot died,” Putin said.
“They did not hesitate and honorably carried out their orders and military duties,” he added, requesting a minute’s silence for the dead pilot.
Also in the square was Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom Wagner chairman Yevgeny Prigozhin called for to be removed.
— Karen Gilchrist