Closing summary
The blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Wagner mercenaries will no longer fight in Ukraine after their chief refused to sign contracts with the Kremlin. Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to sign any contracts with the Kremlin, according to the head of the Duma defence committee, Andrei Kartapolov.
Reports have emerged that Gen Sergei Surovikin has been detained in Russia. The Financial Times and Associated Press have reported this. Three people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that Surovikin was being detained while sources citing US and Ukrainian intelligence reports spoke told the AP. Surovikin’s daughter told the website Baza that “nothing happened to [Surovikin], no one arrested him and now everyone is at their jobs”. The general, who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
Russia has ruled out Switzerland as location for peace talks, saying it had “lost its status as a neutral state” after supporting EU sanctions. Russia’s ambassador to Switzerland said Moscow could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined EU sanctions against his country, adding that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.
Ukrainian forces are advancing “slowly but surely” on the frontlines in the east and south-east of the country as well as around the longstanding flashpoint of Bakhmut, senior military officials have said. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative”.
The Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, speaking on national television, said forces had made advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns – Berdiansk and Mariupol. “Every day, there is an advance,” Maliar said. “Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.”
Mike Pence met Volodymyr Zelenskiy during surprise Ukraine trip. Pence is the first Republican presidential candidate to meet Zelenskiy during the campaign. He told NBC News: “Coming here just as a private citizen – being able to really see first-hand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion – just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”
The death toll in a Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has risen to 12, including four children. Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles were fired into the restaurant in the city centre on Tuesday evening. The regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said rescue attempts had ended. The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, described the strike as “heartbreaking”. Russia’s defence ministry claimed it killed two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers in a missile attack when referring to this attack.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has arrested a local man whom it accused of helping the Russians carry out the attack on Kramatorsk. The SBU said it had arrested an employee of a gas transportation company who helped coordinate the strike and allegedly sent video footage of the cafe to the Russian military. It provided no evidence for the claims.
Putin said on Wednesday that he “didn’t doubt” that he had the support of Russians during the mutiny. In a meeting with the head of the southern Russian province of Dagestan, parts of which were aired on state television, he said: “I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country.”
Putin made a rare public walkabout in Derbent on Wednesday, including shaking hands with people, which was shown on Russian state television.
The distribution of humanitarian aid in Nevske in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk has been paused after Russian shelling.
The Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Kherson region has denied claims that Ukrainian troops had succeeded in establishing any kind of bridgehead over the Dnipro at the location of the Antonivskyi Bridge. He has also claimed that Russian forces repelled multiple landing attempts in the area.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had rejected calls from Washington and Kyiv to arm Ukraine due to “concerns that I don’t think any of the western allies of Ukraine have”. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said Israel needed “freedom of action” in Syria, where Israel often bombs Iranian targets near Russian forces. He said he also had fears that Israeli weaponry could be captured in Ukraine and turned over to Iran, specifically the Iron Dome air defence system, which was developed with the US.
Poland expects the EU to help it fund measures to strengthen its eastern border, a deputy minister said on Thursday, after Warsaw announced a tightening of security due to concerns over the presence of Wagner group troops in Belarus.
The Hungarian parliament’s house committee has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership for next week.
The EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, Denmark’s foreign minister has warned in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that to do so would risk “importing instability”. Lars Løkke Rasmussen told the newspaper that Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans, but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
Russia said it was opening criminal cases against what it claimed to be 160 mercenaries from 33 different countries who were operating on behalf of Ukrainian forces in the country.
Updated
An aide of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told Reuters that Ukraine wants to receive an invitation to begin the process of joining Nato at the military alliance’s summit next month, and that Zelenskiy will not attend if leaders do not show “courage”.
Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva said that Kyiv wanted the Nato summit – due to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 11-12 July – to deliver a response to the application for Nato membership that Ukraine filed on 30 September 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 has said it understands Ukraine cannot join Nato until the war with Russia is over. “What we are asking for is to start the procedure,” he said.
“If there is no result at the Vilnius summit, [Zelenskiy] doesn’t have reason and time to go,” said Zhovkva.
“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.
“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 added.
Updated
The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, told papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi on Thursday that their churches should work together to avert “negative political developments and serve the cause of peace and justice”.
Kirill is a strong supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine. Zuppi is in Moscow to help find “a solution to the tragic current situation”.
Merchandise carrying the insignia of Wagner mercenary group has soared in price since the group’s aborted mutiny, Reuters reports.
E-commerce leader Wildberries’ weekly price breakdowns showed how costs have risen. A patch depicting the skull that can be sewn on to clothes fetched 525 roubles (£4.70) in the period 25-29 June, up sharply from 294 (£2.70) roubles during 18-25 June.
Prices for a black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a Wagner fighter holding a violin jumped this week to 1,650 (£15) roubles from 1,236 (£11.20) roubles.
Updated
The UK’s defence minister, Ben Wallace, said on Thursday that Nato should look at skipping the requirement for Ukraine’s membership action plan (Map) as part of its pathway to joining the alliance.
Any move to ditch or circumvent Ukraine’s Map requirement, designed to help candidates meet certain political, economic and military criteria, could speed up its accession.
“I think we should absolutely look at skipping the membership action plan,” 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.”
Wallace said he could not guarantee agreement on that step before next month’s Nato summit in Lithuania, but said it could be possible to remove other barriers to Ukraine’s membership.
Last month, Politico reported that Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, privately suggested that allies agree Ukraine could join Nato after the war, without following a Map. The US president, Joe Biden, has also expressed he is open to waiving the Map for Ukraine.
Ben Wallace was at one point seen as a contender to become the next head of Nato but it is now expected that incumbent Stoltenberg’s term will be extended.
On Monday Wallace ruled out a plan to become secretary general. He told the Royal United Services Institute land warfare conference: “I’m not going to do it this year or next year or the year after, so it’s for others to take that job.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US is close to approving a long-range missile system for Ukraine that could strike Russian targets from far behind the frontlines, according to a senior Ukrainian defence official.
The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) has a range of about 190 miles (306km). The US president, Joe Biden, has not signed off on the transfer, partly over concerns among US officials that Ukraine could use it to strike Russian territory and escalate the conflict.
A senior Ukrainian defence official told the newspaper that Kyiv had received positive signs in recent weeks that the US had come around on the missile system. Ukrainian officials have argued that the long-range missiles are needed, in part, to strike into Crimea, the peninsula occupied by Russia, which is being used as a base to launch Iranian-made drones, according to public statements by the US and its European allies.
Updated
The US asked Ukrainian officials not to conduct covert attacks inside Russia as the Wagner group rebellion was under way and advised them not to do anything that would influence the outcome of events or take advantage of the chaos, American officials have told the New York Times.
US officials did not want to give the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, an excuse to claim that the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion was orchestrated by the US or Ukraine. They also said they believed that any high-profile operation by Ukrainian forces inside Russia was unlikely to have any major effect on Prigozhin’s goals, but would allow Putin to level accusations against the west, according to American assessments.
US officials added that as far as they knew, Ukrainian intelligence units took heed of the advice.
Updated
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned Sweden on Thursday over the burning of a Qur’an in Stockholm as tensions between the two countries grow. In order to join Nato, Sweden needs the backing of Turkey which has been blocking its bid.
“We will teach the arrogant western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims,” Erdoğan told party members on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Erdoğan said Turkey would show the strongest possible reaction to what he called the vile protest.
Swedish police had granted permission for the anti-Qur’an protest to take place. But police charged the man who carried out the burning with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, condemned the protest and said it was unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression.
This month a new anti-terrorism law targeted at Kurdish and anti-Turkish government groups, which include the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) and the Gülen movement, came into force in Sweden to appease demands from the Turkish government. In response, protests advocating for Kurdish rights were held.
Updated
Mike Pence meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy during surprise Ukraine trip
The former US vice-president Mike Pence met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a surprise trip to Ukraine, NBC news reports.
“I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told NBC News.
“But coming here just as a private citizen – being able to really see first-hand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion – just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”
Pence is the first Republican presidential candidate to meet Zelenskiy during the campaign.
Unlike the Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, both of whom have expressed tepid support for Ukraine and US intervention, Pence has been unambiguous in his strong support for Ukraine and said “there can be no room in the leadership of the Republican party for apologists for Putin”.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that large majorities of Americans – 67% and 73% – are more likely to support a candidate in next year’s US presidential election who will continue military aid to Ukraine and one who backs the Nato alliance.
Updated
Here is a picture of pro-Ukrainian protesters outside the European Council in Brussels on Thursday as EU leaders met to discuss “future security commitments” to Ukraine.
The protest was held to call on the EU to outline the way for Ukraine and Georgia to become member states, to further sanction Russia, and to recognise the Wagner group as a terrorist organisation.
Updated
Russia rules out Switzerland as location for peace talks, saying it had 'lost its status as a neutral state' after supporting EU sanctions
Russia’s ambassador to Switzerland said Moscow could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined EU sanctions against his country, adding that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.
Switzerland, which has consistently blocked the re-export of Swiss-manufactured weapons by other countries for use in Ukraine, was described of having “lost its status as a neutral state” by Sergei Garmonin in an interview with Le Temps newspaper published on Thursday.
Reuters reports that in his speech to parliament on 15 June, Volodymyr Zelenskiy invited Switzerland to host a global peace summit on Ukraine. Ukraine’s president said he had previously discussed the initiative with the Swiss president, Alain Berset.
Updated
Two people were killed and two wounded in a 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,” Reuters reports governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Updated
BBC Journalist Francis Scarr has shared a fawning clip from Russian TV that portrays president Vladimir Putin as a “rock star” days after an attempted mutiny.
Presenter Olga Skabeyeva says that “even rock stars have nothing on him” after the welcome he was given by crowds in Derbent last night.
“Where else does the national leader get greeted like this? Where is anyone greeted like this at all.
“Ovations, cheering, and then for a very long time they didn’t let him go” she said.
Russian state TV is pulling out all the stops to promote Putin as a leader beloved by the entire nation following the failed mutiny
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) June 29, 2023
Presenter Olga Skabeyeva says that "even rock stars have nothing on him" after the welcome he was given by crowds in Derbent last night pic.twitter.com/VzRaP88fgd
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed it killed two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers in a missile attack on the city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, the RIA state news agency reported.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin and defence ministry claimed the strike was aimed at military targets.
Ukraine said the attack, which hit a crowded restaurant, targeted civilians. Officials said 12 people died as a result, including three children.
Updated
“Nothing [has] happened” to Gen Sergei Surovikin said his daughter on Thursday after reports of his arrest.
Surovikin had not been seen in public since Saturday. The Financial Times, citing three sources, reported that the missing general had been detained.
Speaking to the website Baza, Surovikin’s daughter Veronika said “nothing happened to [Surovikin], no one arrested him, and now everyone is at their jobs”.
She also said that the general “never appeared every day in the media and did not make statements”. Surovikin’s wife refused to comment on the rumours about his arrest.
The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
Updated
The head of the British army is expected to step down next year after a shorter than expected time in the role.
Gen Sir Patrick Sanders became chief of the general staff last June. Army chiefs typically serve about three years in office unless they are promoted to become chief of the defence staff, the most senior military commander.
Sanders has been outspoken about the need to rebuild the UK’s war-fighting capability after Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In January, he said donating tanks and other military equipment to Ukraine “will leave us temporarily weaker as an Army”.
In a letter posted on the Ministry of Defence’s private internet server Defence Connect, Sanders said: “Giving away these capabilities will leave us temporarily weaker as an Army, there is no denying it.
“There is no doubt our choice will impact on our ability to mobilise the Army against the acute and enduring threat Russia presents and meet our Nato obligations.
“Our tank crews and gunners will feel the impact the most. But the decision also brings the opportunity to accelerate the modernisation and transformation of the Army ahead of Russia. Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now. I know they will put them to good use.”
The Sun reports that Gen Sharon Nesmith has been invited to apply for the role by Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary.
Updated
Reuters reports that the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said EU countries with a neutral stance object to giving Ukraine outright security assurances.
“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,” Nehammer said on Thursday before a meeting with other EU government leaders in Brussels.
“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.”
This follows on from comments Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, made in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday where he said the EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, saying to do so would risk “importing instability”.
Rasmussen added that Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
Updated
Wagner mercenaries will no longer fight in Ukraine after chief refuses to sign contracts with Kremlin
Wagner fighters will no longer fight in Ukraine after the mercenary group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refused to sign any contracts with the Kremlin, according to the head of the Duma defence committee, Andrei Kartapolov.
Kartapolov said that a few days before the attempted rebellion, Russia’s ministry of defence announced that “all [groups] that perform combat missions must sign a contract” with the ministry, Tass news agency reported.
According to Kartapolov, Prigozhin did not sign the contracts and was informed that “Wagner would not take part in a special military operation.”
“That is, funding, material resources will not be allocated,” the deputy added.
Updated
The Kremlin said on Thursday there was a constant threat of “provocations” from the Ukrainian side regarding the nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that inspectors had recently been at the site to check on the safety of the plant, which is controlled by Russian forces but is near the frontline of fighting in southern Ukraine.
The UN atomic energy agency has frequently appealed to both sides to avoid shelling in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia.
Patrick Reevell, a reporter from ABC News, tweeted on Thursday morning that he was in Zaporizhzhia with Ukrainian emergency workers doing drills and practising how to respond if Russia blew up the city’s nuclear power plant.
The governor of Kherson, Oleksander Prokudin, said on Telegram: “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.”
In Zaporizhzhia today filming Ukrainian emergency workers doing drills practicing how to respond if Russia blew up the nuclear power plant here.
— Patrick Reevell (@Reevellp) June 29, 2023
Video shows workers practicing decontaminating someone for radiation. pic.twitter.com/AXsWDUcryY
Gen Sergei Surovikin has been detained in Russia, FT reports
Gen Sergei Surovikin has been detained in Russia, the Financial Times reports.
Surovikin had not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
Three people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that Surovikin was being detained.
It is not clear whether Surovikin has been charged as a plotter in the uprising led by Prigozhin on Saturday, or simply detained for interrogation.
Both the Kremlin and Russia’s defence ministry have refused to clarify the fate of Surovikin.
Updated
The Kremlin has refused to clarify the fate of Gen Sergei Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the Wagner uprising.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the defence ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him.
Asked by reporters if the Kremlin could clarify the situation with Surovikin, Peskov said: “No, unfortunately not.”
“So I recommend that you contact the defence ministry; this is its prerogative.”
When a reporter asked if Russian president Vladimir Putin still continued to trust Surovikin, Peskov said: “He is the supreme commander-in-chief and he works with the defence minister and with the chief of the general staff.”
Questions about “structural units within the ministry,” Peskov said, should be addressed to the defence ministry.
Asked about Prigozhin’s whereabouts, after a plane linked to the mercenary flew to Moscow from St Petersburg, Peskov said he did not have information about Prigozhin’s location at the current time.
Updated
Australia handed over some military assistance to Ukraine before it was formally approved or without the necessary export permits, an audit has found.
A report published on Thursday also said some grants were made to Nato and the UK defence ministry despite uncertainty around the legislative basis for providing that assistance.
The Australian National Audit Office examined the Department of Defence’s role in providing military assistance to Ukraine, and revealed that the deliveries had been made on 40 flights to date.
The ANAO found the planning, implementation and delivery of the assistance was “largely effective” although it also pointed to “some shortcomings” in the rapid rollout.
“Defence delivered military assistance quickly and in line with Australian government expectations,” the report tabled in parliament said.
“However, not all legislative and administrative requirements were met in the context of this rapid implementation activity.”
Defence, the report said, was “not able to demonstrate” that all Australian government policy approvals were secured for 13.5% of the military assistance dispatched in 2022, valued at $36.4m.
A further 58 items with a value of $38.4m were transferred from Australia to Ukraine without being included in an exchange of letters between the two governments, the report said.
The report also questioned the legal basis for certain Australian grants made shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This included $4.2m to a Nato trust fund announced on 28 February 2022 and $18m to the UK Ministry of Defence announced on 1 March 2022, both while the Coalition was in power.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that its own data suggested continued strong support among Russians for what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and for Russian president Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was responding at a regular news briefing to a question 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.
“The data we have show something quite different - dominant support for the special military operation and for the president,” said Peskov.
“The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president,” Peskov said.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Ukrainian forces are advancing “slowly but surely” on the frontlines in the east and south-east of the country as well as around the longstanding flashpoint of Bakhmut, senior military officials have said. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative.”
The Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, speaking on national television, said forces had made advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns – Berdiansk and Mariupol. “Every day, there is an advance,” Maliar said. “Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.”
The death toll in a Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has risen to 12, including four children. Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles slammed into the restaurant in the city centre on Tuesday evening. Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said rescue attempts had ended. The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, described the strike as “heartbreaking”.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has arrested a local man it accused of helping the Russians carry out the attack on Kramatorsk. The SBU said it had arrested an employee of a gas transportation company who helped coordinate the strike and allegedly sent video footage of the cafe to the Russian military. It provided no evidence for the claims.
Putin said Wednesday that he “didn’t doubt” that he had the support of Russians during the mutiny. In a meeting with the head of the southern Russian province of Dagestan, parts of which were aired on state television, he said: “I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country.”
Putin made a rare public walkabout in Derbent on Wednesday, including shaking hands with people, which was shown on Russian state television.
A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Gen Sergei Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
The distribution of humanitarian aid in Nevske in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk has been paused after Russian shelling.
The Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Kherson region has denied claims that Ukrainian troops had succeeded in establishing any kind of bridghead over the Dnipro at the location of the Antonivskyi bridge. He has also claimed that Russian forces have repelled multiple landing attempts in the area.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had rejected calls from Washington and Kyiv to arm Ukraine due to “concerns that I don’t think any of the western allies of Ukraine have”. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said Israel needed “freedom of action” in Syria, where Israel often bombs Iranian targets near Russian forces. He said he also had fears that Israeli weaponry could be captured in Ukraine and turned over to Iran, specifically the Iron Dome air defence system, which was developed with the US.
Poland expects the EU to help it fund measures to strengthen its eastern border, a deputy minister said on Thursday, after Warsaw announced a tightening of security due to concerns over the presence of Wagner group troops in Belarus.
The Hungarian parliament’s house committee has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership for next week
The EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, Denmark’s foreign minister has warned in an interview with the Financial Times, saying to do so would risk “importing instability”. Lars Løkke Rasmussen told the newspaper Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
Russia said it is opening criminal cases against what it claims are 160 mercenaries from 33 different countries who are operating on behalf of Ukrainian forces in the country.
Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday.
Updated
The Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Kherson region has denied claims that Ukrainian troops had succeeded in establishing any kind of bridghead over the Dnipro at the location of the Antonivskyi bridge. He has also claimed that Russian forces have repelled multiple landing attempts in the area.
State-owned media Tass quotes Vladimir Saldo saying:
The enemy has not created any bridgeheads there, and has no offensive potential. Over the past two days, the artillerymen of the Dnipro group of troops sank six boats, on which more than 30 Ukrainian soldiers tried to cross over for subsequent landing at the pillars of the bridge on the left bank. Last night, they destroyed a loaded boat, on which the militants tried to evacuate from under bridge to the right bank.
The claims have not been independently verified. There had been some reports in Ukrainian media that Ukrainian forces had established a position on the Russian-controlled left-bank of the Dnipro.
Hungary's vote on Sweden's Nato membership delayed again
The Hungarian parliament’s house committee has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership for next week, Reuters reports a lawmaker of the opposition party the Democratic coalition said on Thursday.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that yesterday in Donetsk region 11 settlements were fired upon, killing one person. Citing the Donetsk police force, it reported that in Zalisne “two apartment buildings and a private house, and a bank building were damaged by shelling, electricity was cut off.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
The Economist foreign correspondent Oliver Carroll posts that unverified news is beginning to filter out about some restructuring of the Russian military command structure.
Surovikin’s deputy Yudin has been fired from Russian army, says the well-connected Russian journalist Aleksey Venediktov https://t.co/35XkR3PwJU
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) June 29, 2023
Reuters earlier reported that two of the most prominent figures in the campaign against Ukraine have not been seen since the Wagner mutiny.
The armed forces chief of staff Gen Valery Gerasimov has not appeared in public or on state TV since the the weekend. Gerasimov, 67, is the commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Absent from view, too, is Gen Sergei Surovikin, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, and who has been named by US media citing security sources as having foreknowledge of Yevgeney Prigozhin’s planned rebellion. It is Surovikin’s deputy who is named as being fired by some Russian sources.
Updated
In a post to social media Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described Ukraine’s path to victory as “difficult” but that they would achieve it. The Ukrainian president wrote:
We have to realise that the path to our victory is difficult. And now, no one can say when we will complete it. But when the goal is clear and fair, it does not matter how thorny the path to this goal is. Ukraine will walk this path to victory! And this is no longer a dream – it is a reality.
We have to realize that the path to our victory is difficult. And now, no one can say when we will complete it. But when the goal is clear and fair, it does not matter how thorny the path to this goal is. Ukraine will walk this path to victory! And this is no longer a dream – it… pic.twitter.com/O5M1biIsGA
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 29, 2023
Updated
Poland expects the European Union to help it fund measures to strengthen its eastern border, a deputy minister said on Thursday, after Warsaw announced a tightening of security due to concerns over the presence of the Wagner group in Belarus.
Reuters reports that asked on Thursday whether Brussels should help Warsaw pay for such measures, deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński said “Poland expects it”.
“European solidarity means supporting countries threatened with destabilization,” he told public radio. “These safeguards need to be increased.”
On Wednesday Poland’s deputy prime minister, Jarosław Kaczyński, said the country believed that there could be around 8,000 Wagner troops already in Belarus.
Updated
Russia opens criminal cases against 160 foreign mercenaries it claims are operating in Ukraine
State-owned Russian news service Tass is reporting that the Russian Federation is opening criminal cases against what it claims are 160 mercenaries from 33 different countries who are operating on behalf of Ukrainian forces in the country.
It quotes a report by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, which states:
As a result of interaction with the ministry of defence of the Russian Federation and other operational services, evidence of the participation of mercenaries from Georgia, the US, Latvia, Sweden and other states has been collected. Currently, 160 foreigners from 33 countries are being prosecuted.
This is the video clip which shows Vladimir Putin on a rare public walkabout in Russia, which was broadcast on state television. It has been widely seen as a visible attempt to reinforce the popular image of Russia’s president in the aftermath of the weekend’s armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.
Here are some recent images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine has described the strike on Kramatorsk which took 12 lives as “heartbreaking”. In a tweet, Melinda Simmons said:
The Russian attack on Kramatorsk is heartbreaking. Ukrainian children among those killed in a missile attack on a pizza restaurant. So obviously not a military installation but a popular venue for residents and visitors. The rap sheet against Russia continues to grow.
The 🇷🇺 attack on #Kramatorsk is heartbreaking. 🇺🇦 children among those killed in a missile attack on a pizza restaurant. So obviously not a military installation but a popular venue for residents & visitors. The rap sheet against 🇷🇺 continues to grow.
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) June 29, 2023
Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday, Reuters reports, citing the RIA news agency.
The sound of explosions has been heard in Kherson, according to Suspilne. This is not uncommon, as Ukrainian and Russian forces have positions on opposite sides of the Dnipro.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that the distribution of humanitarian aid in Nevske in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk has been paused after Russian shelling.
It cites the regional governor Artem Lysohor, who said there were no casualties or injuries, but that due to the deterioration of the security situation, the humanitarian aid would be distributed later.
Updated
Rescue operations cease at Kramatorsk restaurant site
Rescue operations at the site of the strike on the restaurant in Kramatorsk have been completed, the regional governor of Donetsk has said on Telegram. Pavlo Kyrylenko confirmed that the final death toll in the attack was 12, and urged residents of Donetsk to consider evacuating.
He posted:
The rescue operations at the site of the missile strike in Kramatorsk have been completed.
A total of 12 people, including three children, died as a result of the attack. 60 people were injured, including an eight-month-old baby.
Rescuers managed to pull out 11 victims from under the rubble. 20 people applied for psychological help.
I am asking everyone: do not neglect safety measures! Evacuate to safer regions of Ukraine!
Donetsk is one of the region of Ukraine that the Russian Federation claimed to annex last year.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had rejected calls from Washington and Kyiv to arm Ukraine due to “concerns that I don’t think any of the western allies of Ukraine have”.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said Israel needed “freedom of action” in Syria, where Israel often bombs Iranian targets near Russian forces.
He said he also had fears that Israeli weaponry could be captured in Ukraine and turned over to Iran, specifically the Iron Dome air defence system, which was developed with the US.
“If that system were to fall into the hands of Iran, then millions of Israelis would be left defenseless and imperiled,” he said.
Iran has developed a closed relationship with Moscow in recent months.
Updated
A bit more from the ISW report, which suggests that the Kremlin will attempt to balance its desire to mitigate the “widespread disdain” for the MoD establishment that fuelled Wagner’s rebellion, while also trying to disempower those who sympathised with the mutiny.
Wagner’s goal of removing Gen Valery Gerasimov and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, suggested that the Kremlin may view their unpopularity as “a direct threat to Putin’s ability to retain support among key constituencies and the military”, the US thinktank wrote.
ISW previously assessed that the Kremlin is likely attempting to signal that Shoigu will maintain his position, but the Kremlin has yet to promote Gerasimov in a similar way in the days following the rebellion.
The Kremlin may attempt to placate disdain for the MoD establishment by reducing Gerasimov’s role in operations in Ukraine, although he is highly likely to maintain, at least nominally, the position of overall theater commander and his long-term role as Chief of the General Staff.
ISW has previously assessed that Gerasimov’s removal from either position would be too damaging to Putin’s and the MoD’s reputation .. Putin is likely further incentivized not to publicly replace Gerasimov out of fears of legitimizing rebellion as a successful means of blackmail.
Updated
The EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, Denmark’s foreign minister has warned in an interview with the Financial Times, saying to do so would risk “importing instability”.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen told the newspaper Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
If you don’t complete the reform process before you enter, then there could be a risk of slowing down afterwards. And we do not export stability, we risk importing instability. And that’s why it is so important to stress the need of fulfilling the [EU membership] criteria.”
If there were to be special treatment for Ukraine, it should be in the form of extra help for Kyiv meet EU standards, he said.
We want to invest and we want to assist and we want to be as positive and help some as possible, but we can’t lower the bar.
Russian sources are speculating that the Wagner rebellion is already having widespread impacts on the Russian military command structure, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine.
One prominent milblogger claimed here had been “large-scale purges” among the command cadre of the Russian armed forces and that the Russian MoD is currently undergoing a “crash test” for loyalty, the US thinktank wrote.
The milblogger notably claimed that Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) commander and rumored deputy theater commander Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky assumed responsibilities as overall theater commander in Ukraine from Chief of the General Staff and current overall theater commander Army General Valery Gerasimov on an unspecified date, but likely after the rebellion …
Another Russian source claimed that an “atmosphere of suspicion has enveloped the General Staff” and that affiliates of Gerasimov are accused of indecision and failure while the affiliates of deputy commander of the joint grouping of forces in Ukraine Army General Sergei Surovikin are accused of complicity in the rebellion.
The ISW said the sources had largely been accurate in their previous reporting on Russian command changes but emphasised that it could not confirm any of the reports
Putin shakes hands with supporters in rare meeting with public
Russian president Vladimir Putin greeted supporters in a rare up-close public appearance on Wednesday, after arriving in the remote southern region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea, 2,000km from Moscow.
The appearance appeared to be an attempt to repair the damage done to his image wreaked by the weekend’s mutiny, as he tries to portray himself as retaining popular support with the whole of the Russian people behind him.
He flew to the city of Derbent in the mostly Muslim region to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha and visit an ancient citadel and historic mosque where he took a tour and stopped to kiss fans, pose for selfies and shake hands with cheering crowds.
It was an unusual move for a secretive president whom one senior security official once described as “pathologically afraid for his life”, requiring his staff to undergo a two-week quarantine during the pandemic.
The length of the tables Putin used to greet foreign leaders last year was widely seen as both a power play and a way to socially distance himself for fear of infection.
Updated
Death toll in Kramatorsk restaurant strike rises to 12
The death toll in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has risen to 12, after another body was pulled from the rubble early on Thursday, Ukrainian emergency services have said.
Three children were among the dead, it said in a tweet, and 60 people were injured, including one child. Earlier reports had said four children were among the dead.
“Emergency and rescue operations have been completed,” the emergency services added.
#Краматорськ
— DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) June 29, 2023
Вранці 29 червня з-під завалів деблоковано тіло ще однієї загиблої особи.
Загалом загинуло 12 осіб (у тому числі 3 дитини), постраждало 60 осіб (у тому числі 1 дитина) та врятовано 11 осіб, з них 7 - підрозділом ДСНС.
Аварійно-рятувальні роботи завершені. pic.twitter.com/wC7m8UND7o
Ukraine makes 'slow' but 'sure' advances, officials say
Ukrainian forces are advancing “slowly but surely” on the front lines in the east and southeast of the country as well as around the longstanding flashpoint of Bakhmut, senior military officials have said, according to Reuters.
The news wire reported:
Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi told chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley that the that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative.”
“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,” Zaluzhnyi wrote on Telegram.
He told Milley about weapons needed by Ukrainian forces as well as demining equipment – Ukrainian officials have cited large tracts of mined territory as an impediment to any advance.
Reuters also reported that deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, speaking on national television, had noted advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns – Berdiansk and Mariupol.
“Every day, there is an advance,” Maliar said. “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.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleksander Musiyenko said Ukrainian gains on the fringes of Bakhmut were probably a prelude for plans to recapture other areas, including the long-contested towns of Aviivka and Maryinka.
“It makes no sense to enter Bakhmut itself now. The risk is too great,” he told Ukrainian NV Radio “But in the east, Ukraine has gradually taken over the initiative. Ukraine has improved its tactical positions without sending in significant reserves.”
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Livingstone.
Ukrainian forces are making progress in the south and southeast of the country, military officials have said. “Ukraine’s defence forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances,” the country’s commander-in-chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi wrote on Telegram. “The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses.”
Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine had made advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns – Berdiansk and Mariupol. “Every day, there is an advance,” Maliar said on national televsion. “Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.”
In Russia meanwhile, president Vladimir Putin went on a rare public walkabout in Dagestan, shaking hands and posing for selfies in an apparent attempt to counter the damage to his image wreaked by the weekend’s Wagner rebellion.
It was an unusual move for a secretive president whom one senior security official once described as “pathologically afraid for his life”, requiring his staff to undergo a two-week quarantine during the pandemic.
In other developments:
A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that General Sergei Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
The death toll in a Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has risen to 11, including four children. Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles slammed into the restaurant in the city centre on Tuesday evening.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has arrested a local man it accused of helping the Russians carry out the attack on Kramatorsk. The SBU said it had arrested an employee of a gas transportation company who helped coordinate the strike and allegedly sent video footage of the cafe to the Russian military. It provided no evidence for the claims.
Putin has said that he “didn’t doubt” that he had the support of Russians during the mutiny. In a meeting with the head of the southern Russian province of Dagestan, parts of which were aired on state television, he said: “I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country.”
US president Joe Biden said Putin “was clearly losing the war” but that it was too early to tell whether he had been weakened by the Wagner rebellion. “He’s losing the war at home, and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” he added.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said the failed mutiny had weakened Putin but the implications for his invasion of Ukraine remained unclear. “I do believe he is weakened as this shows that the autocratic power structures have cracks in them and he is not as firmly in the saddle as he always asserts,” Scholz said in an interview with broadcaster ARD.
Ukraine’s defence minister says he expects a guarantee that his country will be invited to join Nato at the conclusion of the war with Russia, describing membership as non-negotiable. Before a meeting of Nato leaders in Vilnius next month, Oleksii Reznikov said Kyiv recognised that accession to the military alliance was not possible while the conflict continued, but insisted hard pledges for the future would need to be made.
The presidents of Lithuania and Poland, Gitanas Nausėda and Andrzej Duda, visited Kyiv, with Nausėda confirming that his country will supply Ukraine with two Nasams launchers within three months. The visit comes ahead of an EU leaders summit which begins on Thursday.
Duda warned the presence of Wagner troops in Belarus could pose a potential threat to the region. “It is difficult for us to exclude today that the presence of the Wagner group in Belarus could pose a potential threat to Poland, which shares a border with Belarus, a threat to Lithuania … as well as potentially to Latvia,” Duda said.
UK officials are coordinating with the EU over plans to seize the interest on billions of frozen Russian assets and send the proceeds to Ukraine, the UK’s Europe minister, Leo Docherty, has said. The transfer of the interest on frozen Russian assets is seen as one of the most legally viable routes to use Russian assets to help the recovery of Ukraine.
Kyiv has appointed Herman Smetanin as the new head of state-owned weapons producer Ukroboronprom. “The newly appointed general director faces three main tasks: to increase the production of ammunition and military equipment, build an effective anti-corruption infrastructure in the company, and transform Ukroboronprom,” said Oleksander Kamyshyn, the minister for Ukraine’s strategic industries.
