Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, appeared to confirm that he is in Belarus, vowing in a new video to continue operating his mercenary network, but not in Ukraine.
In what appeared to be the first video of him since he led a short-lived rebellion against Russian authorities last month, he said fighters would continue to work in Africa, and to train the military of Belarus, where he has taken exile. In the blurry footage uploaded to Telegram, verified by The Washington Post, he appears to address hundreds of men in Belarus and says he intends to turn the country’s military into “the second army in the world.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in South Africa next month “by mutual agreement,” the South African presidency announced Wednesday. As a signatory to the International Criminal Court’s founding treaty, South Africa would have been obliged to arrest Putin in the country because of the ICC arrest warrant issued against him in March over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had sought an exemption, saying that arresting Putin would amount to a declaration of war against Moscow.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Prigozhin-linked groups in Africa, where Wagner has a military and commercial presence in more than a dozen countries, said earlier this week that the mogul had sold some of his business on the continent to pay salaries to his fighters.
Speaking of the grain deal Wednesday at a meeting of government officials, Putin said, “It is Russia that contributes to global food security; claims that Ukraine feeds the world’s hungry are lies.” Putin said Russia was capable of replacing Ukrainian grain on the world market both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis. The grain deal allowed nearly 33 million tons of commodities — mostly corn, then wheat — to flow into dozens of countries, United Nations data showed. Russia’s conditions to return to the deal include lifting sanctions from its agricultural bank and lifting restrictions on its ability to buy foreign agricultural machinery.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary General António Guterres would “continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain and Russian fertilizer are out into the global market” after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Governments around the world, from France and Finland to Kenya, criticized Russia’s decision to pull out of the grain deal this week.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that starting Thursday, all ships headed to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered potential carriers of military cargo, given its withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal. “Accordingly, the flag countries of such vessels will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied a claim that Russia had threatened South Africa with war if it arrested Putin, when asked about it at a news conference Wednesday. But he added that it was “absolutely clear to everyone in this world what it means to attempt to encroach on the head of the Russian state, so no one here needs to explain anything.” Ramaphosa said in court documents published Tuesday that “to declare war with Russia by arresting President Putin” during the summit would be “a reckless, unconstitutional and unlawful exercise” of government power, local news outlet News 24 reported.
The Pentagon announced a new $1.3 billion security assistance package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine on Wednesday. The commitment includes Phoenix Ghost drones, four National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, mine clearing equipment, and artillery rounds, among other capabilities.
Russia attacked the key Ukrainian port city of Odessa with missiles and drones overnight, its regional governor said, injuring six people, including a 9-year-old-boy, and marking the second consecutive night of attacks. Russia has said that its attack early Wednesday was in retaliation for the deadly explosion on the Crimean Bridge.
Ukraine’s agriculture minister said the attack destroyed a “considerable” amount of export infrastructure and 60,000 tons of grain at Chornomorsk port that was supposed to be shipped 60 days ago as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal Russia exited this week that previously allowed millions of tons of essential food products to be exported from Ukrainian ports that Russia had blockaded. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address said the grain was intended to be shipped to China, adding: “This attack proves that their target is not only Ukraine.”
Russia used Kh-59 guided air missiles, long-range Kh-22 missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Odessa overnight, reported Oleh Kiper, the regional governor. Odessa’s mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, described the attacks as “one of the most horrible nights,” adding: “We do not recall such a scale of attack since the beginning of a full-scale invasion.”
Russian drones also appeared to target other areas of the country overnight. Zelensky said on Telegram that there were attacks on Zhytomyr and other regions of the country. The military administration in the capital, Kyiv, said on Telegram that the air defense was able to intercept all drones over the city.
A fire broke out early Wednesday at a military training ground on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, reported no casualties but said that more than 2,200 people were being evacuated from nearby villages. Investigators are working on determining the cause of the blaze, he said.
Traffic has partially resumed on the Crimean Bridge, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Telegram, adding that fully restoring the structure could cost between $11 million and $14 million.
The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6, encouraged Russians to spy for his country, Politico reported. In a rare speech in Prague, at an event hosted by the outlet, Richard Moore urged disaffected Russians to “join hands with us,” adding: “Our door is always open. … Their secrets will be safe with us, and together we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end.” The CIA has also sought to recruit Russians, and in May published instructions on how to share information safely with the agency online.
President Biden will discuss the repatriation of Ukrainian children with a papal envoy this week in Washington, the White House said. Kyiv estimates that thousands of children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.
Russian warships will participate in a joint naval exercise with China in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the Kremlin said Tuesday. A group of vessels left the far eastern city of Vladivostok for the exercises, which are set to begin later this month.
The body of Nick Maimer, a veteran from Idaho killed in Ukraine, is being returned to the United States, according to Task Force 31, which describes itself as a group of veterans training Ukrainian soldiers. Maimer’s death was disclosed in May in a video showing Wagner chief Prigozhin, who stood next to Maimer’s body and shuffled through the veteran’s identification cards.
In Central Asia, a hidden pipeline is supplying Russia with banned technology: On the shipping label, Chinese drones were described as heavy-duty crop-dusters — a tool used by orchards and large farms. But the identity of the Russian buyer hinted at other possible uses.
The shipment of drones was intercepted by customs officers on the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan during the final leg of their long trek, according to U.S. officials who recounted the event. The episode was unusual, and lauded as a rare victory in a whack-a-mole effort to stop banned hardware from pouring into Russia, Joby Warrick reports.