June 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a clear message was sent to Moscow and Minsk that “NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory.”

Stoltenberg made the remarks at a joint news conference at The Hague on Tuesday, alongside the leaders of seven NATO countries.

The NATO chief said the alliance is ready to defend members against Belarus and Russia, and that the events involving the Wagner rebellion were “internal Russian matters.” 

When asked by journalists about any security issues that may come up with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his forces being transferred to Belarus, all officials stated that it is too early to make any final judgments. 

Russian missiles struck the busy city center of the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and a nearby village on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, according to Ukrainian officials.

A popular restaurant was badly damaged in the attack and video footage showed a chaotic aftermath, with injured and shocked patrons.

A 17-year-old girl was killed and an 8-month-old baby was among those injured, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement, adding that there may be additional people under the rubble.

At least 47 people were injured, the state emergency service reported late Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “a manifestation of terror.”

Here’s what else you should know:

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains at risk of attack so long as it is controlled by Russia.

He told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday that he thinks Russia is trying to attack the power plant without being blamed for it.

Kuleba also said he believes the threat of nuclear weapons to be “the last argument Putin has in his pocket.”

“I think it’s nothing more than a fear game because Putin loves life too much,” he said, adding that “the West will make a big mistake if it decides to play the nuclear fear game with Putin.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he does not think the Wagner Group will be the same following its failed attempt at a rebellion.

“I think Wagner will not continue its existence in the current form,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday. “But I don’t really care what is going to happen to them because, you know, we think about what is happening in Ukraine.”

What we do know about next steps. Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s exact whereabouts are still unknown. He hasn’t been seen in any videos or photos since he left the Rostov-on-Don military headquarters Saturday evening. However, Belarusian state media quoted Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday, saying that Prigozhin is in Belarus. And on Tuesday morning, two planes linked to Prigozhin landed at a Belarusian airbase outside the country’s capital city.

Charges against Wagner fighters will be dropped by Russia’s Federal Security Service. Wagner will also hand over its heavy military equipment to active units of the Russian military, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, according to state media RIA Novosti.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the rebellion in Russia led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin would have hurt Russian troop morale had it lasted longer.

“If this mutiny had lasted for 48 hours more, I’m pretty certain we would have felt a demoralizing impact on the Russian forces fighting in the south and east of Ukraine,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview Tuesday. “Unfortunately, Prigozhin gave up too quickly. So there was no time for this demoralizing effect to penetrate Russian trenches.”

Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion triggered a weekend of chaos for the Russian leadership as his mercenary forces appeared to threaten Moscow. The Wagner boss said he called off the march Saturday to prevent Russian bloodshed and that the uprising was a protest — not an attempt to topple the government. He said the Russian Defense Ministry had planned for Wagner to “cease to exist” from July 1.

A Russian missile struck a busy area in the center of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday evening, killing at least four people, including a child, and injuring dozens of others, according to authorities.

A second missile hit a village on the outskirts of the city, officials said.

“Russia deliberately targeted crowded areas,” Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said in comments on Telegram. 

The strikes happened at around 7:30 p.m. local time, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, told Ukrainian state TV. He later said in a Telegram post that the injured included three foreigners and one child.

A 17-year-old girl was among those killed and an 8-month-old baby was among those injured, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

“At the epicenter of the explosion were also apartment buildings, commercial premises, cars, a post office and other buildings, in which windows, glass and doors were blown out,” the Prosecutor General said in a statement, adding that there may be additional people under the rubble.

An eyewitness described up to a dozen people being pulled from the rubble. It was not clear if these people were dead or alive, the man told CNN teams on the ground. 

The restaurants on the plaza that was hit are popular with residents and the military, according to CNN teams familiar with the area. RIA Pizza, one of the businesses in the plaza, is especially popular with the military.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said rescuers extinguished a fire in the building of a destroyed restaurant and the search for additional victims was underway as rubble was being cleared.

“The rubble of the destroyed cafe is being dismantled with the help of two cranes and the victims are being searched for,” the State Emergency Services said.

A second strike struck the village of Bilenke, according to Andriy Yermak, adviser to the Office of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

CNN’s Florence Davey-Attlee contributed to the report

Correction: An earlier version of this post gave the incorrect day for the attack on Kramatorsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called a Russian strike on eastern Ukraine’s Kramatorsk “a manifestation of terror.”

“Each such manifestation of terror proves over and over again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a result of everything it has done — defeat and a tribunal, fair and legal trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists,” Zelensky said during his nightly address Tuesday.

At least four people and dozens of others were injured after a Russian missile struck a busy area in the center of Kramatorsk on Tuesday evening. A 17-year-old girl was among those killed and an 8-month-old baby was among those injured, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Zelensky said Russians “brutally shelled Kramatorsk with S-300 missiles.” 

The Ukrainian president also said he is “sincerely grateful” to President Joe Biden for a new defense package. Earlier on Tuesday, the US Department of Defense announced additional security assistance to Ukraine, worth up to $500 million.

Two planes linked to Wagner CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin landed at a Belarusian airbase outside the country’s capital city on Tuesday morning, according to a satellite image from BlackSky. 

Prigozhin’s exact whereabouts are still unknown. He hasn’t been seen in any videos or photos since he left the Rostov-on-Don military headquarters Saturday evening. 

However, Belarusian state media quoted Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday, saying that Prigozhin is in Belarus.

The satellite image taken Tuesday morning by BlackSky shows the two planes — with serial numbers RA-20795 and RA-02878 – sitting on the tarmac at Machulishchy Airbase, just outside Minsk. Additional satellite imagery from BlackSky, as well as CNN’s analysis of the planes’ measurements, confirmed the planes arrived within the last 24 hours and matched the dimensions of the Prigozhin-linked planes.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 indicated that the planes landed near Minsk at around 8 a.m. local time. Both planes had their transponders turned off before landing, obscuring their exact landing location. 

Two sources – a senior European intelligence official and a source familiar with Prigozhin’s planes – confirmed to CNN the planes are linked to the Wagner boss but did not know if Prigozhin was on board.

The movement of Prigozhin’s planes has been closely watched in the aftermath of his attempted insurrection over the weekend.  

On Sunday afternoon, Prigozhin’s plane, RA-20795, appeared to make a trip to Rostov-on-Don from St. Petersburg. Tracking data from FlightRadar24 doesn’t show the plane landing in the city Prigozhin took control of on Saturday, but it makes a sudden turn toward the city before its transponders are turned off. 

Roughly five hours later, the plane’s transponders were turned back on, and it was seen leaving the Rostov-on-Don area, heading back to St. Petersburg. 

Then, at 1:03 a.m. this morning, the same plane appeared to make the same trek to the Rostov-on-Don area and once again, it turned off its transponders before landing. 

The plane appeared back on radar at 5:32 a.m. local time, appearing to leave the Rostov-on-Don area, and began making a circuitous trek around Ukraine and Southern Russia towards Minsk. The transponders were turned off again at 7:37 a.m. local time as it began descending into the Minsk area.  

The second plane, Ra-02878, flew from one Moscow airport to another on Sunday afternoon: Sheremetyevo International to Zhukovsky International Airport. On Monday, it flew from Moscow to St. Petersburg, landing at 1:26 p.m.

At 6:44 a.m. this morning, that plane left St. Petersburg. The transponders were turned off at 7:55 a.m. local time as it began descending into the Minsk area. 

Wagner troops are still inside Ukraine after the weekend mutiny, according to the US Defense Department.

“But in terms of their specific disposition and whether they may or may not move be moving, I’m not going to speculate on that,” said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder at a press briefing.

Ryder added that the US did not make any changes to US force posture in response to the events in Russia.

“[W]e’ve not seen anything that would, from our perspective, require us to make any type of forced posture adjustments,” he said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu delivered his first on-camera remarks since the Wagner rebellion during a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Gen. Alvaro Lopez in Moscow.

Shoigu said Russia-Cuban relationships “are on the rise today” and that Cuba remains an important Russian ally who showed a “full understanding of the reasons for the start of a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.”

“Under conditions when the United States have been carrying out an illegal and illegitimate trade and economic blockade of Cuba for many decades, we are ready to provide assistance to the “Island of Freedom,” to lend a shoulder to our Cuban friends,” Shoigu said Tuesday.

According to a statement from the Russian defense ministry, the Cuban defense minister said his country opposed “unilateral anti-Russian sanctions.”

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four companies involved in “gold dealing” and one person they say made “weapons deals” tied to the Wagner Group.

The announcement of the sanctions comes days after the short-lived mutiny led by the head of the mercenary group’s leader, Yevegny Prigozhin.

They target companies in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Central African Republic that “have engaged in illicit gold dealings to fund the Wagner Group to sustain and expand its armed forces, including in Ukraine and Africa.”

The targeted individual, Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov (Ivanov), is a Russian executive in the Wagner Group who “worked closely with Prigozhin’s entity Africa Politology and senior Malian government officials on weapons deals, mining concerns, and other Wagner Group activities in Mali,” according to a Treasury Department release.

“The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali. The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group’s revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine, and anywhere else,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

Sweden has fulfilled the requirements set out by Turkey in order to join NATO, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference alongside the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Billstrom said that with the introduction of a new terrorism law, Sweden has fulfilled the final requirements to join the alliance agreed in a tri-lateral plan between Finland, Sweden and Turkey.

“New legislation has recently entered into force in Sweden that makes it illegal to participate in a terrorist organization in any way that promotes, strengthens or supports it. We are thereby delivering on the last parts of our agreement,” Billstrom said.

The UK foreign secretary also addressed the journalists in the room, reiterating the UK’s support for Sweden’s NATO inclusion. “My position is clear that Sweden must and shall join NATO and should do so as soon as possible,” Cleverly said. 

“We will continue to push for the speedy completion of your accession process,” Cleverly added. 

The UK foreign minister also stressed that it was in Turkey’s interest “that Sweden becomes a member of the alliance and does so quickly.”

Sweden stated its intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May last year, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a $500 million security assistance package for Ukraine Tuesday.

According to a statement, the package includes:

“The enduring courage and solidarity of the people of Ukraine continues to inspire the world. Russia started this unprovoked war against Ukraine,” Blinken said in his statement.

Blinken went on to reaffirm US commitment to Ukraine.

“Russia could end it at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks against Ukraine’s cities and people. Until Russia does so, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” he said.

Almost 900 Ukrainian civilians have been detained by Russia — with 77 executed — in the first 10 months of the war in Ukraine, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday.  

Russian forces “engaged in widespread torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees” and, in some cases “subjected (them) to sexual violence,” the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said in a statement.  

The report covers 15 months of the war, from February 2022 to May 2023.

“Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping Ukrainian armed forces, compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities or intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views,” Bogner said. 

Civilians who were detained included local public officials, humanitarian volunteers, priests and teachers.  

“Many civilian detainees were held incommunicado, in unofficial places of detention, often in deplorable conditions. In about a quarter of the documented cases, civilian detainees were transferred to other locations within occupied territory or deported to the Russian Federation. Often, no information was disclosed to their families for prolonged periods of time,” according to the report.  

The UN also found evidence of civilian detentions by Ukraine, reporting a total of 75 arrests, mostly of people suspected of “conflict-related” offenses. Over half of those arbitrarily detained by Ukrainian forces also reported being tortured or mistreated, usually while they were being interrogated or immediately after arrest, Bogner said.  

According to Bogner, Ukraine offered “unimpeded confidential access to official places of detention and detainees” with the exception of a group of 87 Russian sailors, while Russia did not grant similar access, despite the UN’s requests.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus Tuesday, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

In an address, Lukashenko said he cautioned Prigozhin that his forces would be destroyed if they continued their march to the Russian capital. “Halfway you’ll just be crushed like a bug,” Lukashenko recalls telling Prigozhin during a call on Saturday, according to Belarusian state media. 

Lukashenko also provided new details about the conversations he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prigozhin over the weekend, saying that negotiations with the Wagner boss occurred all day Saturday.

The Belarusian president claimed the country is not currently building camps on its territory for Wagner mercenary forces, and that he’d offered the group some abandoned land inside Belarus if they needed it.

Earlier, Putin told Russian security personnel that they “virtually stopped a civil war” in responding to Wagner forces’ failed insurrection, in strong remarks following Russia’s weekend of chaos.

Here are other key developments related to the Wagner rebellion:

For two days after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his abortive mutiny, Russian President Vladimir Putin said nothing in public. Having faced the greatest challenge to his authority in 23 years, and almost witnessed his country tip into civil war, many expected the president to respond with sound and fury.

Instead, the silence was broken first by his adversary. In an 11-minute audio message posted to his Telegram channel, Prigozhin claimed to have merely staged a protest, rather than a coup, attempting to “bring to justice” Russia’s top military brass for their “mistakes during the special military operation.”

When Putin finally addressed the nation again on Monday, he was remarkably clement. The last time he had been seen on Saturday, he told the nation that Prigozhin’s mutiny was “a stab in the back of our country and our people,” and promised to hold the insurgents “accountable.”

“Putin values loyalty above all else,” Dmitri Alperovitch, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, told CNN. “You can steal under him, you can kill, you can be a criminal. But the one thing you cannot be is disloyal.”
Given this, Putin’s apparent reluctance to punish the insurgents seemed puzzling.

But, according to Kirill Shamiev, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Putin’s first priority will be to “demilitarize, disarm and demobilize the Wagner group,” before issuing any potential punishment.

“On the tactical level, it’s important to pacify a bit, to make it calm, to give some hope and benefits to the ordinary Wagner mercenaries and senior command, to reduce their incentives to act,” Shamiev told CNN.

Read the full story here.

CNN’s Katherina Krebs, Anna Chernova and Jessie Yeung contributed reporting.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that while Ukraine did not have any specific intelligence related to Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion over the weekend, it was inevitable that someone would challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“For us, it has always been pretty obvious that it’s just a matter of time when someone in Russia will dare to challenge Putin. Because we saw how his power and authority is shrinking, and how Russia is entering very difficult turbulence. So Prigozhin is just the first one who dared, but I have no doubt that others will follow one way or another,” Kuleba told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Kuleba also said Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling is the last weapon in his arsenal.

“Frankly, I believe that the fear of nuclear weapons is the last argument Putin has in his book. … He exhausted all other arguments,” he told Burnett.

“It’s obvious that his army is (incapable) of achieving its strategic purposes in Ukraine. He realizes that his power vertical has been shattered. And so there’s only one last argument left in his pocket. … I think it’s nothing more than a fear game, because Putin loves life too much,” Kuleba said.

“The West will make a big mistake if it decides to play the nuclear fear game with Putin,” he added.

The foreign minister also expressed concern over the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying “the risk is real” as long as Russian troops hold the facility.

“Of course, they don’t want to be blamed for causing another nuclear disaster. So I think they’re struggling to find a way to perform it as a false-flag operation or as something else that would not be directly attributable to them,” he claimed.

Last week, the Kremlin denied a claim made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia was “considering” a “terrorist attack” at the plant in occupied southern Ukraine.

Watch the full interview on CNN at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said most of the tactical nuclear weapons that Russia plans to station in Belarus have already arrived. 

“In terms of nuclear weapons, most of them were already brought to Belarus, I won’t say how many. It’s surprising that they didn’t trace it,” Lukashenko said according to Belarus state media.

He denied that Wagner forces are being used to guard the weapons, saying: “Russians and Belarusians are guarding it… No Wagner fighters will guard nuclear weapons. This is our task.” 

Earlier Tuesday, Lukashenko claimed that Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived to Belarus.

More on the transfer of weapons: Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. Putin said Moscow would complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in the neighboring country by the beginning of July. He added that Russia had already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system, a device that can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, to Belarus.

Prior to the nuclear deal, Belarus had no nuclear weapons on its territory since the early 1990s. Shortly after gaining independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it agreed to transfer all Soviet-era weapons of mass destruction stationed there to Russia.

Since invading Ukraine more than a year ago, Putin has used escalating rhetoric on a number of occasions, warning of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war and suggesting Moscow may abandon its “no first use” policy.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration is closely monitoring the situation between Russia and Belarus after Putin had claimedMoscow had deployed tactical nuclear weapons to the neighboring country. He said the US has “no reason to adjust” its nuclear posture and doesn’t “see any indications” that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

CNN’s Mariya Knight, Uliana Pavlova, Helen Regan and Mike Conte contributed reporting to this post.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he cautioned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that his forces would be destroyed if they continued their march to the Russian capital.

“Halfway you’ll just be crushed like a bug,” Lukashenko recalls telling Prigozhin during a call on Saturday, according to Belarusian state media. 

Lukashenko said Prigozhin told him: “‘We want justice! They want to strangle us! We will go to Moscow!’”

“For a long time, I was trying to convince him. And in the end I said, ‘You know, you can do whatever you want. But don’t be offended by me. Our brigade is ready for transfer to Moscow,’ he said.”

Lukashenko said he told Prigozhin that “this situation does not only concern Russia. It’s not just because this is our Fatherland and because, God forbid, this turmoil would spread all over Russia, and the prerequisites for this were colossal, we were next.”

Lukashenko denies building camps for Wagner forces: The president said Belarus is not currently building camps on its territory for Wagner mercenary forces, following Saturday’s rebellion.

“We are not building any camps yet. But if they want, we will accommodate them. Set up tents, please. But for now they are in Luhansk in their camps,” the Belarussian president said in an address on Tuesday.

He said Wagner had been offered some abandoned land inside Belarus if they needed it.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed new details of the conversations he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin over the weekend, after claiming he played instrumental role in halting Saturday’s rebellion.

According to Lukashenko’s account, reported by Belarusian state media, he spoke with Putin on the phone at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday morning about the mounting crisis in Russia’s south. Lukashenko said he negotiated all day Saturday with Prigozhin.

“The most dangerous thing, as I understand it, is not what the situation was, but how it could develop and its consequences. I also realized there was a harsh decision taken — to destroy. I suggested Putin not to hurry. Let’s talk with Prigozhin, with his commanders,” Lukashenko recalled of those early conversations with the Russian leader.

Lukashenko said Putin then told him that Prigozhin would not respond to phone calls, so he tried to find phone numbers to contact Prigozhin, and “by the middle of the day, we organized as many as three channels through which we can talk with Rostov.”

At 11 a.m. local time, Lukashenko said he called Prigozhin, who “immediately picked up the phone,” saying the Wagner founder sounded euphoric.

“We talked for the first round of 30 minutes in a swear language. Exclusively. There were 10 times more swear words — I later analyzed them — than normal vocabulary. Of course, he apologized in advance, and began to tell me everything using these obscene words,” Lukashenko said. 

CNN has reached out to Prigozhin’s press service and has not heard back. 

Lukashenko said he warned Prigozhin that he would no longer mediate negotiations if any civilians were killed.

“As soon as you deliberately, inadvertently kill at least one person, especially a civilian, that’s it, there will be no negotiations with you, and I won’t talk to you,” he said.  

The Belarusian leader described how Prigozhin backed down on his demand for the dismissal of Russia’s defense minister and chief of the General Staff.

Lukashenko said he gave Prigozhin personal assurances of his safety and the safety of his men in order to bring the rebellion to a final end on Saturday evening.

Lukashenko said Prigozhin called him at 5 p.m. local time to accept the conditions,

Prigozhin then asked him, “‘but … what should I do? We stop, they will destroy us,’” according to Lukashenko, who replied, “They won’t. I guarantee you. I’ll take it upon myself.”

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“I see that Prigozhin is already flying on this plane. Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today,” Lukashenko said according to Belarusian state TV.

A senior European intelligence official told CNN earlier that it appeared two private planes that have been linked to Prigozhin landed in Minsk early Tuesday morning. The official still did not know, however, whether Prigozhin was actually on board either of the planes.

While addressing security officers involved in fighting the attempted Wagner mutiny over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the state and Russian defense ministry “fully financed” the private military company.

The state paid Wagner about 86 billion rubles (about $1 billion) for “maintenance and incentive payments” from May 2022 to May 2023 alone, Putin said.

He also claimed the Concord company, the sprawling group headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, had received 80 billion rubles (about $938 million) from the state as well.

Putin said “(we will) deal with that,” when talking about how billions of rubles were spent on Wagner. 

“But I hope that through its work, nobody has taken anything,” he said. It was not immediately clear if Putin possibly alluded to an investigation into where state funds have gone.

“As for this Wagner group, you know, we have always treated the fighters and the commander of this group with great respect. Because they really showed courage and heroism. Our soldiers and officers of the Russian army and volunteers worked in combat conditions with no less dedication, they also showed heroism and self-sacrifice. Those who served and worked in this Wagner company were respected in the country,” he said.

Sitting behind a desk at the Kremlin, Putin also said said he wanted to express his “gratitude” to the security officers.

“Unfortunately, you had to work in very difficult conditions” during the rebellion, he said. 

The Netherlands and Denmark have ordered 14 Leopard 2 tanks for delivery to Ukraine, according to a news release from German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall. 

“We are talking about 14 overhauled used Leopard 2A4 tanks, not new vehicles,” Rheinmetall spokesperson Oliver Hoffmann told CNN on Tuesday.

The first combat tank is scheduled to be delivered to Ukraine in January 2024, with the remaining deliveries to take place in the course of 2024.

After Germany delivered 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles in March, a second batch of 20 Marders will be delivered in the summer of 2023, according to Rheinmetall.

Both deliveries will be supplemented by 26 brand-new military trucks and two Skynex air defense systems by the end of 2023, Rheinmetall added.

Germany has approved the delivery in accordance with the country’s weapons export control act.

Poltava was hit by Russian X-22 missiles on Tuesday, exactly one year after an attack in the central Ukrainian region killed more than 20 people.

No casualties were recorded today when a summer cottage colony was bombarded, according to the regional military administration.

On June 28, 2022, a Russian air strike devastated a bustling shopping mall in Kremenchuk in Poltava, setting the building ablaze, killing multiple people and injuring dozens more.

The mayor of Kremenchuk, Vitalii Maletskyi, reacted to the similarities between the two attacks.

“Same Tu-22m3 aircraft took off from the same Shaykovka airfield and launched the same X-22 missiles. These are missiles that have an accuracy range of more than 600 meters, so they can hit anywhere. Their use itself is a war crime by Russians,” he said on his Facebook page. 

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of President of Ukraine, said on Twitter that the strike also happened at the same time as last year’s attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said there were no civilian casualties during Wagner’s advance toward Moscow on Saturday, as he addressed security forces involved in resisting the paramilitary group’s mutiny.

The Kremlin leader praised law enforcement units for defending “the life, security and freedom of our citizens,” and thanked them for their “military duty.”

On Monday, Putin confirmed the death of Russian army pilots in weekend clashes against Wagner.

Moscow on Tuesday rejected the notion that Wagner’s failed mutiny jeopardized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority, claiming such assertions “have no bearing on reality.”

“The level of consolidation demonstrated by society, political parties, the military, our servicemen, civil society representatives, religious leaders, believers, and others around the president is very high,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. 

“There are currently numerous ultra-emotional outbursts among so-called experts, pseudo-experts, political scientists, and pseudo-political scientists. Some hysterical voices are also emerging in certain online and new media platforms.”

Wagner forces took control of military facilities in southern Russia on Saturday, and threatened to march on Moscow, in a move that sent shockwaves through Putin’s decades-long grip on power.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told security forces they “virtually stopped a civil war” in dealing with Wagner’s mutiny at the weekend, in strong remarks on the paramilitary group’s failed insurrection.

“You defended the constitution, the lives and the freedom of our citizens. You saved our homeland from shaken up in actual fact… you virtually stopped a civil war,” Putin told the invitational event of security personnel at the Kremlin on Tuesday.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion triggered a weekend of chaos for the Kremlin leader, at one point appearing to threaten Moscow and exposing further disunity among Russian officials during the war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said the security personnel involved in resisting Wagner’s failed rebellion on Saturday “did not flinch,” as the Kremlin leader attempts to showcase a vision of unity after a weekend of chaos.

Putin said the army did not need to remove frontline units from the war, but added there were Russian casualties over the weekend.

He added that Russian military units “ensured the reliable operation of the most important strategic control centers, including defense facilities, the security of the border regions, the strength of the rear of our armed forces” and “continued to fight heroically on the front.”

“We did not have to remove combat units from the special military operation zone. Our comrades fell in the confrontation with the rebels,” he said.

Putin also asked guests at the event to hold a “moment of silence” for Russian army pilots who died in fighting with Wagner forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is speaking to law enforcement units that participated in defensive efforts against Wagner forces, after the paramilitary group advanced toward Moscow over the weekend.

“In a difficult situation, you acted clearly, in a well-coordinated manner, by deed you proved your loyalty to the people of Russia and to the military oath, you showed responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and its future,” Putin said at the invitational event hosted by the Kremlin.

Putin on Monday paid tribute to Russian army pilots who died while fighting against Wagner troops, saying they showed “courage and self-sacrifice.”

The Kremlin on Tuesday did not give further details on the agreement reached with Yevgeny Prigozhin, after the Wagner boss pulled his forces back from a march on Moscow in a failed armed insurrection over the weekend.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said agreements were reached in order to avoid the “worse-case scenario” but failed to expand on the deal, which also involved Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We are talking about a rather sad and very extraordinary event. A lot of work has been done by a number of people. I repeat once again, the will of the president was demonstrated to prevent the development of events according to the worst scenario,” Peskov said.

“There were certain promises from the president, certain guarantees from the president.”

He added that he is not aware of current whereabouts of Prigozhin, who has not been seen in public since the weekend’s events.

“I don’t have any information regarding that matter, and I am unable to provide any details,” Peskov told reporters when questioned about whether the Kremlin has any information on the Wagner chief’s location.

Peskov also refused to comment on earlier remarks made by Lukashenko.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service said it is dropping the case against the Wagner rebels, state media RIA Novosti said. 

Pope Francis’ peace envoy will travel to Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday this week, according to a statement from the Vatican Press Office. 

“Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, accompanied by an official of the Secretariat of State, will undertake a visit to Moscow, as the envoy of Pope Francis,” the Vatican statement said. 

“The principal scope of the initiative is to encourage gestures of humanity, which can contribute to favoring a solution to the current tragic situation and to finding paths to reach a just peace,” it added. 

President Vladimir Putin will today address the security forces that participated in Moscow’s defensive efforts against the Wagner group mutiny on Saturday.

The event with invited law enforcement squads will take place in Cathedral Square inside the Kremlin, according to government spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has appeared in the Kremlin ahead of the expected address.

President Vladimir Putin praised the “courage and self-sacrifice” shown by Russian army pilots who died while fighting against Wagner troops over the weekend, after paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed insurrection against the Kremlin.

“I thank all our military personnel, law enforcement officers, special services who stood in the way of the rebels, remained faithful to their duty, oath and their people,” he said in a national address on Monday.

“The courage and self-sacrifice of the fallen heroes-pilots saved Russia from tragic devastating consequences,” he added.

Prigozhin said earlier that “not a single solider on the ground was killed,” during his march toward Moscow on Saturday.

“We regret that we were forced to strikes on aircraft,” he said on Monday, adding: “But these aircraft dropped bombs and launched missile strikes.”

CNN’s Mariya Knight in Atlanta and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has highlighted his purported role in quelling the Wagner group’s armed rebellion attempt against the Kremlin at the weekend, speaking about a deal between Moscow, Minsk and Wagner that has been shrouded in secrecy.

Lukashenko did not offer many details about the mediation, which led to paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin turning his fighters away from Moscow because he claimed he wanted to avoid spilling Russian blood.

“Given the role of Belarus in resolving this situation, I must say a few words here about what happened and explain our position and the decisions taken,” Lukashenko said, referring to the deal.

Lukashenko, who has a political track record of cracking down on dissent, claimed the Belarusian opposition was trying to make use of the situation.

“When the events in Russia took place, I gave all the orders to bring the army to full combat readiness,” he said.

“No one, not even in these snotty Telegram channels, blathered against it.

“All the [Belarusian] Armed Forces, including the police and special forces, were put on full alert,” he added.

“In no case should you make a hero out of me, neither of me, nor of [Vladimir] Putin, or of [Yevgeny] Prigozhin, because we missed the situation, and then we thought that it would resolve, but it did not resolve. And two people who fought at the front collided.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday that it will drop the case against the Wagner paramilitary group, after its fighters staged an attempted rebellion on Saturday that threatened President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

“The case of the armed insurrection armed was dropped on June 27, the FSB said,” state media RIA Novosti reported.

“During the investigation of the case of the rebellion, it was established that its participants stopped their actions directly aimed at committing a crime, the case was closed,” the FSB press service said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement did not mention Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin by name. 

Wagner will also hand over its heavy military equipment to active units of the Russian military, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, according to RIA Novosti.

On Monday, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the mercenary group was due to leave its positions on June 30 and hand over equipment to the Southern Military District in Rostov, Russia.

However, he claimed Moscow’s troops attacked Wagner forces on Friday, days before that handover was due to take place. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko declared it was “painful to watch” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted insurrection over the weekend, in his first address since the most serious leadership challenge to ally Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I won’t hide it, it was painful to watch the events that took place in the south of Russia,” he said during an epaulette-giving ceremony in Minsk.

“Not only for me. Many of our citizens took them close to heart. Because there is only one fatherland,” he added, according to Belarusian state news agency, BelTA. The comments were not televised nor have yet appeared in video clips.

Lukashenko did not make any reference to Prigozhin by name or say anything about his whereabouts. The Wagner head has not been seen in public since he called off his uprising on Saturday.

The Belarus president also said he had made military preparations during the events of the weekend. “I gave all orders to bring the army to full combat readiness,” he said.

Some background: Lukashenko, often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator” purportedly had a hand in quelling the threat of mutiny on Saturday.

Prigozhin abruptly halted Wagner’s advance, claiming his fighters had reached within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow but were retreating to avoid Russian bloodshed.

Lukashenko apparently made a deal with Prigozhin that would see the Wagner chief leave for Belarus; a criminal case against the mercenary boss would be dropped; and Wagner fighters would be folded into formal military structures by signing contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The decision followed an unprecedented intervention by Lukashenko himself, according to the Belarusian presidential press service. However, Russian and Belarusian officials have remained tightlipped on the details of the supposed deal.

Russia’s short-lived insurrection has handed Joe Biden the most perilous version yet of a dilemma that has confounded the last five US presidents: how to handle Vladimir Putin.

Every US commander in chief since Bill Clinton has sought in some way to engage the former KGB officer, whose mission to restore Russian greatness was ignited by his humiliation at the fall of the former Soviet Union. Most have sought some kind of reset of US-Russia relations. But all failed to avert the plunge in ties between the two nuclear superpowers.

Biden, who came of age in Washington as a senator during some of the most embittered years of the US-Soviet standoff in the 1970s and 1980s, had fewer illusions about Putin than most. But even he tried to break the chill, by meeting his counterpart at a summit in Geneva in 2021.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, led him instead to reinvigorate the NATO alliance with an extraordinary pipeline of arms and ammunition designed to ensure the country’s survival. Western support has not only enabled Ukraine to fight back against invading forces, it has helped turn the war into a quagmire that spiked political pressure on Putin and created battlefield conditions that likely helped lead to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt over the weekend.

Putin appeared on camera on Monday, defiantly warning that he would have had no trouble suppressing the uprising had the Wagner Group leader not chosen to halt his march on Moscow in a deal that ostensibly will see him exiled to Belarus.

But there was widespread agreement outside Russia that the showdown represented the most serious challenge to Putin’s grip on power during his generation in control and could even be a crack that spells the beginning of the end of his authority.

So Biden, therefore, faces a possibility that none of the predecessors who wrestled with Putin had to contemplate — that he is dealing with the endgame of this modern czar, and the prospect of instability rocking a nuclear superpower that could have global implications.

Read the full analysis here.

In an address to the Russian nation Monday, President Vladimir Putin said Wagner’s uprising “would have been suppressed anyway,” but thanked mercenary fighters who made the “right decision” by halting their advance.

He then offered them a choice: sign contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry or other law enforcement, return to their families, or: “Whoever wants to can go to Belarus,” he said.

Wagner’s march was called off over the weekend when a supposed deal was struck that would see its chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, move to Belarus.

Putin did not mention Prigozhin by name in his address Monday, but accused rebellion organizers of “betraying their country.”

A source at Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Prigozhin remains under investigation. His whereabouts are unknown.

Here are the latest headlines on the rebellion and Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Russia and China are “an important force in ensuring global peace and in promoting inclusive development,” Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang claimed in a video address Tuesday, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Speaking at a conference in Beijing held by the Russian International Affairs Council and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Qin reiterated Beijing’s support for Moscow, saying it plans to work with Russia to oppose the “use of force and hegemony of individual states,” TASS said.

Qin’s remarks come after senior Chinese officials expressed support for Moscow during a meeting with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing on Sunday following the Wagner rebellion, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.

On Sunday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson referred to the uprising as Russia’s “internal affair” and added: “As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity.”

Some context: China and Russia declared a friendship with “no limits” in February 2022, shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine. Since then, Beijing has refused to condemn the invasion and instead provided much-needed diplomatic and economic support for Russia while attempting to portray itself as a peacemaker in the conflict — a position that has further soured its relations with Western nations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Ukrainian forces have made advances on all fronts.

CNN cannot verify Ukrainian accounts of advances on the battlefield.

Zelensky’s comments followed his visit to the front lines in the Donetsk region on Monday. Zelensky said he awarded medals to two fighters and “several operational decisions were made” when he met with several Ukrainian generals. 

Here’s the latest map of control:

Before Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin stood down on Saturday, there was outreach to Ukrainian officials from allies on a number of different levels, cautioning them to resist taking advantage of the chaos to strike inside Russia, according to a Western official.

The concern was that Ukraine and the West would be seen as helping Prigozhin and threatening Russian sovereignty.

“It’s an internal Russian matter,” the official said the Ukrainian officials were told, echoing what US and other Western officials have said publicly.

“Ukrainians were being cautioned by allies not to provoke the situation. Make hay of opportunities on Ukrainian territory but don’t get drawn into internal matters or strike at offensive military assets inside of Russia,” the official said.

In the war with Russia, Ukraine is suspected of carrying out a growing number of covert cross-border attacks and sabotage on Russian military facilities and even a drone strike on the Kremlin. Ukrainian forces have shelled the Russian Belgorod region, near the border between the countries.

“You just don’t want to feed into the narrative that this was initiative by us,” the official said. “It’s what the Russians always wanted, proving that there are threats to Russian sovereignty.”

US intelligence officials were able to gather an extremely detailed and accurate picture of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans leading up to his short-lived rebellion, including where and how Wagner was planning to advance, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

But the intelligence was so closely held that it was shared only with select allies, including senior British officials, and not at the broader NATO level, these sources said.

It was not clear exactly when Prigozhin would act, the sources said. But he appears to have decided to move forward with his plan following a June 10 declaration by Russia’s Ministry of Defense that all private military companies, including Wagner, would be forced to sign contracts with Russia’s military beginning in July and essentially be absorbed by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The intelligence was so secret that within the US, it was briefed only to the most senior administration officials as well as the Gang of Eight members of Congress, who have access to the most sensitive intelligence matters.

The secrecy surrounding the intelligence was why some senior European officials and even senior officials across the US government were caught off guard by Prigozhin’s attack on Friday, and the speed with which Wagner forces marched into Rostov-on-Don and up toward Moscow into Saturday morning, the sources said.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday thanked the Wagner Group fighters who made the “right decision” and halted their advance — then offered them three options for what to do next.

“I thank those soldiers and commanders of the Wagner Group who made the only right decision — they did not go for fratricidal bloodshed, they stopped at the last line,” Putin said in an address to the nation.

He also said those fighters would have the “opportunity to continue serving Russia by entering into a contract with the Ministry of Defense or other law enforcement agencies, or to return to your family and friends.”

He also gave a third choice.

Putin did not mention Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin by name during the five-minute speech. 

Prigozhin broke his silence earlier Monday in an audio message — his first since allegedly agreeing to leave Russia for Belarus in a deal to end the insurrection. Belarusian officials said they cannot confirm if Prigozhin arrived in the country.

President Joe Biden on Monday sought to distance the United States from the weekend rebellion in Russia, insisting in his first public remarks since the episode that the West had nothing to do with the mutiny.

Speaking from the White House, Biden suggested it was too early to say how the situation would unfold going forward. And he said he may speak again with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to coordinate their response after conferring in a phone call Sunday.

“It’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going,” he said in the East Room. “The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen, but no matter what comes next I will keep making sure that our allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we are reading and responding to the situation.”

Biden’s statement reflected a carefully calibrated American response to the brief uprising by the Wagner Group that amounted to the biggest threat in years to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Over the weekend, Biden remained silent on the events unfolding in Russia. He consulted with European allies by telephone on Saturday before traveling to Camp David with his national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

In his remarks Monday, Biden laid out the thinking behind his approach, which some Republicans have criticized as overly cautious.

“We had to make sure we gave Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or to blame this on NATO. We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within the Russian system,” Biden said.

Read more here.