Mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner no longer participate “significantly” in combat operations in Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday (July 13th), two weeks after the aborted mutiny by the group’s fighters. “At this stage, we do not see Wagner’s forces participating significantly in combat operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder told a news conference.
The United States believes that “the majority” of Wagner’s fighters are still in Ukrainian areas occupied by Russia, he said. In late June, the paramilitary group Wagner, which played a key role in Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, sought to overthrow Russia’s military leadership in a flash revolt.
Evguéni Prigojine, boss of the group, had assured that his uprising was not intended to overthrow power, but to save Wagner from a dismantling by the Russian general staff, which he accuses of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed he had offered Wagner’s men to serve under someone else’s official command, but that Yevgeny Prigozhin refused the offer after his abortive mutiny.
Ukraine says it shot down 16 Russian drones overnight
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday it shot down 16 of the 17 explosive drones launched by Russia overnight. From Thursday evening to Friday morning, Russia “attacked Ukraine with 17 Iranian-made Shahed 136/131 combat drones from the southeast”, the Ukrainian army said on Telegram, claiming to have destroyed 16 of them.
Putin says Prigozhin refused one of his offers
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that he had offered Wagner’s men to serve under someone else’s official command, but that their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refused the offer after his aborted mutiny. In an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant published Thursday evening, the Russian president gave details of his meeting, on June 29 in the Kremlin, with Yevgueni Prigojine and the commanders of the Wagner group. Wagner’s soldiers “could have been gathered in one place and continued to serve. For them, nothing would have changed, they would have been led by the person who was their real commander throughout this period,” Vladimir Putin said.
Kommersant specifies that the person mentioned by the Russian president is a commander of Wagner with the pseudonym “Sedoï” (Grey hair) and who, according to Vladimir Putin, really led the paramilitaries on the Ukrainian front during the last 16 months. “A lot of (Wagner’s commanders) nodded when I said that. But (Yevgeny) Prigozhin, who was sitting in front, didn’t see it and said after listening +No, the guys are not do not agree with this solution +”, assured Mr. Putin.
Russian lawmakers pass law against transgender people
Russian deputies adopted a law on Friday banning gender transitions and banning in particular the adoption of children by transgender people, in the midst of an ultra-conservative turn since the offensive in Ukraine.
“This decision protects our citizens, our children”, assured on Telegram Vyacheslav Volodin, the president of the lower house of Parliament (Duma), while the modifications to the civil status, the surgical operations and the hormonal treatments had become accessible in Russia after the fall of the USSR.