The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine was welcomed to Belarus as part of an agreement that ended his rebellion in Russia, leading NATO to affirm that it will defend itself against “any threat” coming from Moscow or Minsk.
“Every display of terror proves again and 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 court,” President Zelensky said in his late night speech.
On the ground, the Russian attacks continue, this time targeting the center of Kramatorsk. At least eight dead were listed after a strike against a restaurant.
At least eight dead in a Russian strike against a restaurant in Kramatorsk
At least eight people were killed and 56 injured in a Russian strike on Tuesday against a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk, the only major city in eastern Ukraine controlled by Kiev, emergency services said on Wednesday. Among the dead are three children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram. “Rescuers are digging through the rubble of the destroyed building and looking for people who are likely to be under the rubble,” he added.
The strike destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant, an establishment in the center of Kramatorsk popular with journalists and soldiers. According to the Ukrainian police, Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air rockets on this city which had 150,000 inhabitants before the war, and which remains the only large agglomeration still under Ukrainian control in the east of the country.
Three Colombian personalities, the famous writer Hector Abad, the politician Sergio Jaramillo and the journalist Catalina Gomez, correspondent in Ukraine for the daily El Tiempo, were slightly injured while eating in the restaurant with Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, according to a statement signed by MM. Abad and Jaramillo.
Wagner: NATO ready to defend against “Moscow or Minsk”
NATO is ready to defend itself against any threat coming from “Moscow or Minsk”, said Tuesday the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, after Belarus announced that it would welcome Wagner’s boss, Yevgueni Prigojine . Jens Stoltenberg indicated that NATO was going to decide to strengthen its defense systems during an upcoming summit in mid-July in Lithuania in order to protect all its members, particularly those bordering Russia and Belarus.
“It is too early to make a final judgment on the consequences of Prigojine’s installation in Belarus and on the very probable presence also in Belarus of part of his forces,” Jens Stoltenberg told the press. “What is crystal clear is that we have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk: NATO is here to protect every ally and every bit of NATO territory,” he told La Haye after a dinner with seven heads of state or government of the countries of the alliance.
The United States attacks the financing of Wagner in the Central African Republic
The United States announced Tuesday new sanctions against the activities of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in the Central African Republic in particular, a few days after an aborted mutiny by its leader Evgueni Prigojine. The United States was to announce these measures at the very beginning of the week but decided to postpone them a little so as not to appear to take sides in the crisis which unfolded over the weekend in Russia.
The US sanctions target the mining company Midas Resources, which owns several mines in the Central African Republic, as well as Diamville, which specializes in gold transactions, both controlled by Evgueni Prigojine, the US Treasury Department said. The sanctions also target another Dubai-based company, Industrial Resources General Trading, accused of handling transactions on behalf of Diamville. “The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part through the exploitation of natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Pope’s envoy for peace in Ukraine on mission to Moscow on Wednesday
Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis’ envoy for peace in Ukraine, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, three weeks after his visit to Kyiv, the Vatican and media reported. This is the first visit to Moscow by a senior Holy See official since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“On June 28 and 29, 2023, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, accompanied by an official from the Secretariat of State, will pay a visit to Moscow, as envoy of the Pope Francis,” the Holy See announced in a statement on Tuesday. According to Italian public television RAI, the papal emissary arrived in Moscow shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. GMT). “The main objective of the initiative is to encourage gestures of humanity that can help promote a solution to the current tragic situation and find ways to achieve a just peace,” he said.
Pentagon announces $500 million in additional military aid to Ukraine
The US Department of Defense on Tuesday announced a further $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, including munitions for air defenses and armored vehicles, according to a statement. The new delivery should notably include around fifty Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, ammunition for Patriot air defense systems and Himars artillery systems, as well as mine clearance equipment, details the Pentagon.
The announcement comes as Kiev is currently waging its counter-offensive against the Russian forces occupying its territory, on which they have erected numerous lines of defense, and while Moscow is reeling from the abortive rebellion this weekend of the boss of the group paramilitary Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine. Denouncing Russian army shelling of its troops, Wagner’s fighters marched on Rostov, where they took control of an army headquarters, then continued on their way to Moscow, before turning back on Saturday, sowing confusion and doubt as to the credibility of the Kremlin.