“In any case, this will certainly have long-term effects in Russia.”
(Photo: Reuters)
Kramatorsk After the Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in which at least eleven people were killed, a suspected backer was arrested, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Today the Ukrainian secret service, together with special police units, arrested the person who coordinated the terrorist act,” Zelensky said in his evening video address on Wednesday. He also expressed his condolences to the families of all the victims.
A pizzeria was hit in a rocket attack in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on Tuesday. According to the latest information, at least 11 people have been killed and more than 60 injured.
According to Ukrainian sources, three children are among the dead. People are still searching under the rubble for possible victims.
Meanwhile, in the words of their commander-in-chief, General Valery Zalushny, the Ukrainian armed forces managed to “seize the strategic initiative.” “The Ukrainian Defense Forces continue their offensive actions and we have made progress. The enemy is putting up strong resistance and suffering significant casualties,” Zalushnyi wrote on the news app Telegram.
>> Read here: Putin’s chances in Ukraine are sinking
He speaks with US Chief of Staff Mark Milley about the weapons needed for the counteroffensive and mine clearance equipment. Ukrainian officials have cited large mined areas as an obstacle to advance.
How much did the general sympathize with the Prigozhin uprising?
(Photo: dpa)
Scholz: Putin weakened after Wagner uprising
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) assumes that the aborted uprising by the Wagner mercenary group has weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In any case, this will certainly have long-term effects in Russia,” said Scholz on the ARD program “Maischberger”.
“I do believe that he (Putin) is weakened.” The uprising shows “that the autocratic structures, the power structures have cracks” and that Putin is by no means as firmly in the saddle as he keeps claiming.
What role did General Surovikin play in the Prigozhin Uprising?
The role of the Russian deputy supreme commander of the invasion forces in Ukraine in the uprising of the mercenary group Wagner is still unclear. Sergei Surovikin sympathized with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising over the weekend, US officials familiar with the matter say on condition of anonymity. Surovikin supported Prigozhin, but Western intelligence agencies don’t know for sure if he helped the uprising in any way, three of the insiders say.
>> Read here: Moscow’s retaliation: Russia’s elite must fear
When the revolts began, Surovikin had publicly called on the private militia fighters to give up their resistance to the military leadership and to return to their bases. “I urge you to stop,” Surovikin says in a video on Telegram. During his message to the mercenaries, his right hand rested on a rifle.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Surovikin is said to have known about the Wagner uprising. The Kremlin dismissed the reports as speculation.
Pistorius: Developments in Russia are revealing cracks
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius sees the armed uprising by Wagner’s mercenary army as a sign of cracks in Putin’s power apparatus. “I think you don’t have to be a Russia expert to realize that a situation that can develop so far in such a short time that it is a clear signal (…) that things are going wrong there and that there are cracks,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday (local time) in Washington. He responded to a journalist’s question about how shattered he thought the Russian president was.
>> Read here: Pistorius campaigns in Washington for an extension of Stoltenberg’s term of office
Pistorius added that it was not yet possible to assess how deep these cracks were and what consequences they would have for Russia, for the country’s internal stability and for Putin. There is also “no clear, consolidated picture of the situation,” he said.
Kiev: So far 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained in the EU
According to information from Kiev, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have already received western combat training in the states of the European Union. “A total of 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers have already been trained in the EU,” said Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
Tichanovskaya: Wagner boss Prigozhin in Belarus not sure
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya does not believe that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has now found a safe haven in her homeland after his failed uprising in Russia. Prigozhin “humiliated” Kremlin boss Putin, who then made it clear that he would not forgive traitors, she told DW. If Putin gives the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko the order to get rid of Prigozhin, then he will do so, she said.
What will be important on Thursday
The heads of state and government of the EU countries will meet this Thursday for their last regular summit before the summer break. Discussions on, among other things, further support for Ukraine are on the agenda of the two-day meeting in Brussels. An exchange on the uprising of the Wagner troupe in Russia is also expected.
More: All developments in the Ukraine war in our news blog