On Tuesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed that Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had arrived in Belarus 3 days after he led an armed rebellion against Russia’s defense ministry.
According to the AFP, Russians in some large cities have reported mixed emotions such as “sympathy” and “relief” after the head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, mounted a short-lived armed rebellion that made its way halfway to Moscow from the Rostov region on Saturday before Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mediated a ceasefire between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the armed rebellion launched by Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, came as a surprise for most of the world over the weekend, U.S. intelligence officials knew of the plot and briefed Congress on the situation days ahead of Saturday’s mutiny after intelligence officials reportedly observed Wagner fighters mustering forces and gathering weapons.
In new remarks on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an update on the status of Moscow’s hypersonic and nuclear arsenal saying, “About half of the units of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force have been equipped with the latest Yars missile systems and are being rearmed with modern Avangard warheads.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met with African leaders in St. Petersburg and displayed a document that he said was a draft treaty on Ukrainian neutrality that was drawn up during negotiations in Istanbul in March 2022.
Despite his ongoing war with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to allow Kyiv to export grain through the Black Sea via the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Putin has allowed to be extended previously. However, in remarks last week his patience with the deal appeared to be dwindling as he told journalists, “Probably, for the guys who are fighting, it’s not clear why we are letting the grain through. I understand.” As the July 17 expiration date for the current extension approaches though, Putin’s patience appears to have run out.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has told Russian state media that Minsk has begun receiving Russian tactical nuclear weapons that Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously would be stationed in Belarus.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Nova Kakhovka dam sabotage for the first time in public comments blaming the Ukrainian government and military for the “barbaric act.” Putin’s comments came after the Russian defense and foreign ministries had accused Ukraine of the “catastrophic” attack.
This week Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Chinese special envoy Li Hui to discuss both countries’ respective peace plans to potentially end Russia’s war in Ukraine. During the talks, Kuleba made it clear that any plan that required Ukraine to cede territory to Russia was a non-starter for Kyiv.
On Tuesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has recently had ‘friendly’ relations with Russia, announced that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have agreed to host a delegation of leaders from a handful of African countries.