Group’s chief refuses to sign contracts with Kremlin, says head of Duma defence committee; Russian president poses for selfies in Dagestan
Wagner fighters will no longer fight in Ukraine after the mercenary group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refused to sign any contracts with the Kremlin, according to the head of the Duma defence committee, Andrei Kartapolov.
Kartapolov said that a few days before the attempted rebellion, Russia’s ministry of defence announced that “all [groups] that perform combat missions must sign a contract” with the ministry, Tass news agency reported.
According to Kartapolov, Prigozhin did not sign the contracts and was informed that “Wagner would not take part in a special military operation.”
“That is, funding, material resources will not be allocated,” the deputy added.
Here is a picture of pro-Ukrainian protesters outside the European Council in Brussels on Thursday as EU leaders met to discuss “future security commitments” to Ukraine.
The protest was held to call on the EU to outline Ukraine’s and Georgia’s way to become member states, to further sanction Russia, and to recognise the Wagner group as a terrorist organisation.
Russia’s ambassador to Switzerland said Moscow could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined EU sanctions against his country, adding that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.
Switzerland, which has consistently blocked the re-export of Swiss-manufactured weapons by other countries for use in Ukraine, was described of having “lost its status as a neutral state” by Sergei Garmonin in an interview with Le Temps newspaper published on Thursday.
Reuters reports that in his speech to parliament on 15 June, Volodymyr Zelenskiy invited Switzerland to host a global peace summit on Ukraine. Ukraine’s president said he had previously discussed the initiative with the Swiss president, Alain Berset.
Two people were killed and two wounded in a Russian shelling of a refuge for civilians known as an invincibility point in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Thursday, the regional governor said.
“Two local people were killed and two more are in hospital in moderate condition,” Reuters reports governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
BBC Journalist Francis Scarr has shared a fawning clip from Russian TV that portrays president Vladimir Putin as a “rock star” days after an attempted mutiny.
Presenter Olga Skabeyeva says that “even rock stars have nothing on him” after the welcome he was given by crowds in Derbent last night.
“Where else does the national leader get greeted like this? Where is anyone greeted like this at all.
“Ovations, cheering, and then for a very long time they didn’t let him go” she said.
Russian state TV is pulling out all the stops to promote Putin as a leader beloved by the entire nation following the failed mutiny

Presenter Olga Skabeyeva says that "even rock stars have nothing on him" after the welcome he was given by crowds in Derbent last night pic.twitter.com/VzRaP88fgd
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed it killed two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers in a missile attack on the city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, the RIA state news agency reported.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin and defence ministry claimed the strike was aimed at military targets.
Ukraine said the attack, which hit a crowded restaurant, targeted civilians. Officials said 12 people died as a result, including three children.
“Nothing [has] happened” to Gen Sergei Surovikin said his daughter on Thursday after reports of his arrest.
Surovikin had not been seen in public since Saturday. The Financial Times, citing three sources, reported that the missing general had been detained.
Speaking to the website Baza, Surovikin’s daughter Veronika said “nothing happened to [Surovikin], no one arrested him, and now everyone is at their jobs”.
She also said that the general “never appeared every day in the media and did not make statements”. Surovikin’s wife refused to comment on the rumours about his arrest.
The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
The head of the British army is expected to step down next year after a shorter than expected time in the role.
Gen Sir Patrick Sanders became chief of the general staff last June. Army chiefs typically serve about three years in office unless they are promoted to become chief of the defence staff, the most senior military commander.
Sanders has been outspoken about the need to rebuild the UK’s war-fighting capability after Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In January, he said donating tanks and other military equipment to Ukraine “will leave us temporarily weaker as an Army”.
In a letter posted on the Ministry of Defence’s private internet server Defence Connect, Sanders said: “Giving away these capabilities will leave us temporarily weaker as an Army, there is no denying it.
“There is no doubt our choice will impact on our ability to mobilise the Army against the acute and enduring threat Russia presents and meet our Nato obligations.
“Our tank crews and gunners will feel the impact the most. But the decision also brings the opportunity to accelerate the modernisation and transformation of the Army ahead of Russia. Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now. I know they will put them to good use.”
The Sun reports that Gen Sharon Nesmith has been invited to apply for the role by Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary.
Reuters reports that the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said EU countries with a neutral stance object to giving Ukraine outright security assurances.
“For us as neutral states it is clear we can’t give security guarantees like that. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have made it clear they have objections,” Nehammer said on Thursday before a meeting with other EU government leaders in Brussels.
“The role of the neutral states needs to be explicitly taken into account. We will certainly discuss this and we will find formulations that will be acceptable for us as well.”
This follows on from comments Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, made in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday where he said the EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, saying to do so would risk “importing instability”.
Rasmussen added that Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
Wagner fighters will no longer fight in Ukraine after the mercenary group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refused to sign any contracts with the Kremlin, according to the head of the Duma defence committee, Andrei Kartapolov.
Kartapolov said that a few days before the attempted rebellion, Russia’s ministry of defence announced that “all [groups] that perform combat missions must sign a contract” with the ministry, Tass news agency reported.
According to Kartapolov, Prigozhin did not sign the contracts and was informed that “Wagner would not take part in a special military operation.”
“That is, funding, material resources will not be allocated,” the deputy added.
The Kremlin said on Thursday there was a constant threat of “provocations” from the Ukrainian side regarding the nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that inspectors had recently been at the site to check on the safety of the plant, which is controlled by Russian forces but is near the frontline of fighting in southern Ukraine.
The UN atomic energy agency has frequently appealed to both sides to avoid shelling in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia.
Patrick Reevell, a reporter from ABC News, tweeted on Thursday morning that he was in Zaporizhzhia with Ukrainian emergency workers doing drills and practising how to respond if Russia blew up the city’s nuclear power plant.
The governor of Kherson, Oleksander Prokudin, said on Telegram: “The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”
In Zaporizhzhia today filming Ukrainian emergency workers doing drills practicing how to respond if Russia blew up the nuclear power plant here.
Video shows workers practicing decontaminating someone for radiation. pic.twitter.com/AXsWDUcryY
Gen Sergei Surovikin has been detained in Russia, the Financial Times reports.
Surovikin had not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
Three people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that Surovikin was being detained.
It is not clear whether Surovikin has been charged as a plotter in the uprising led by Prigozhin on Saturday, or simply detained for interrogation.
Both the Kremlin and Russia’s defence ministry have refused to clarify the fate of Surovikin.
The Kremlin has refused to clarify the fate of Gen Sergei Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the Wagner uprising.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the defence ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him.
Asked by reporters if the Kremlin could clarify the situation with Surovikin, Peskov said: “No, unfortunately not.”
“So I recommend that you contact the defence ministry; this is its prerogative.”
When a reporter asked if Russian president Vladimir Putin still continued to trust Surovikin, Peskov said: “He is the supreme commander-in-chief and he works with the defence minister and with the chief of the general staff.”
Questions about “structural units within the ministry,” Peskov said, should be addressed to the defence ministry.
Asked about Prigozhin’s whereabouts, after a plane linked to the mercenary flew to Moscow from St Petersburg, Peskov said he did not have information about Prigozhin’s location at the current time.
Australia handed over some military assistance to Ukraine before it was formally approved or without the necessary export permits, an audit has found.
A report published on Thursday also said some grants were made to Nato and the UK defence ministry despite uncertainty around the legislative basis for providing that assistance.
The Australian National Audit Office examined the Department of Defence’s role in providing military assistance to Ukraine, and revealed that the deliveries had been made on 40 flights to date.
The ANAO found the planning, implementation and delivery of the assistance was “largely effective” although it also pointed to “some shortcomings” in the rapid rollout.
“Defence delivered military assistance quickly and in line with Australian government expectations,” the report tabled in parliament said.
“However, not all legislative and administrative requirements were met in the context of this rapid implementation activity.”
Defence, the report said, was “not able to demonstrate” that all Australian government policy approvals were secured for 13.5% of the military assistance dispatched in 2022, valued at $36.4m.
A further 58 items with a value of $38.4m were transferred from Australia to Ukraine without being included in an exchange of letters between the two governments, the report said.
The report also questioned the legal basis for certain Australian grants made shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This included $4.2m to a Nato trust fund announced on 28 February 2022 and $18m to the UK Ministry of Defence announced on 1 March 2022, both while the Coalition was in power.
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The Kremlin said on Thursday that its own data suggested continued strong support among Russians for what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and for Russian president Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was responding at a regular news briefing to a question about a survey suggesting there was an equal number of people who supported negotiations to end the 16-month military operation in Ukraine and those who favoured continuing the conflict.
“The data we have show something quite different – dominant support for the special military operation and for the president,” said Peskov.
“The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president,” Peskov said.
Ukrainian forces are advancing “slowly but surely” on the frontlines in the east and south-east of the country as well as around the longstanding flashpoint of Bakhmut, senior military officials have said. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley that his forces had “succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative.”
The Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, speaking on national television, said forces had made advances in sectors in the south designated by two occupied towns – Berdiansk and Mariupol. “Every day, there is an advance,” Maliar said. “Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.”
The death toll in a Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has risen to 12, including four children. Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles slammed into the restaurant in the city centre on Tuesday evening. Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said rescue attempts had ended. The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, described the strike as “heartbreaking”.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has arrested a local man it accused of helping the Russians carry out the attack on Kramatorsk. The SBU said it had arrested an employee of a gas transportation company who helped coordinate the strike and allegedly sent video footage of the cafe to the Russian military. It provided no evidence for the claims.
Putin said Wednesday that he “didn’t doubt” that he had the support of Russians during the mutiny. In a meeting with the head of the southern Russian province of Dagestan, parts of which were aired on state television, he said: “I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country.”
Putin made a rare public walkabout in Derbent on Wednesday, including shaking hands with people, which was shown on Russian state television.
A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday. The New York Times, citing anonymous US intelligence sources, reported that Gen Sergei Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had well publicised links. Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and was formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine.
The distribution of humanitarian aid in Nevske in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk has been paused after Russian shelling.
The Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Kherson region has denied claims that Ukrainian troops had succeeded in establishing any kind of bridghead over the Dnipro at the location of the Antonivskyi bridge. He has also claimed that Russian forces have repelled multiple landing attempts in the area.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had rejected calls from Washington and Kyiv to arm Ukraine due to “concerns that I don’t think any of the western allies of Ukraine have”. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said Israel needed “freedom of action” in Syria, where Israel often bombs Iranian targets near Russian forces. He said he also had fears that Israeli weaponry could be captured in Ukraine and turned over to Iran, specifically the Iron Dome air defence system, which was developed with the US.
Poland expects the EU to help it fund measures to strengthen its eastern border, a deputy minister said on Thursday, after Warsaw announced a tightening of security due to concerns over the presence of Wagner group troops in Belarus.
The Hungarian parliament’s house committee has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership for next week
The EU should not “lower the bar” on membership for Ukraine in terms of corruption and democracy, Denmark’s foreign minister has warned in an interview with the Financial Times, saying to do so would risk “importing instability”. Lars Løkke Rasmussen told the newspaper Denmark supported EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but that “geopolitical circumstances” did not justify skating over governance reforms.
Russia said it is opening criminal cases against what it claims are 160 mercenaries from 33 different countries who are operating on behalf of Ukrainian forces in the country.
Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday.
The Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Kherson region has denied claims that Ukrainian troops had succeeded in establishing any kind of bridghead over the Dnipro at the location of the Antonivskyi bridge. He has also claimed that Russian forces have repelled multiple landing attempts in the area.
State-owned media Tass quotes Vladimir Saldo saying:
The enemy has not created any bridgeheads there, and has no offensive potential. Over the past two days, the artillerymen of the Dnipro group of troops sank six boats, on which more than 30 Ukrainian soldiers tried to cross over for subsequent landing at the pillars of the bridge on the left bank. Last night, they destroyed a loaded boat, on which the militants tried to evacuate from under bridge to the right bank.
The claims have not been independently verified. There had been some reports in Ukrainian media that Ukrainian forces had established a position on the Russian-controlled left-bank of the Dnipro.
The Hungarian parliament’s house committee has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership for next week, Reuters reports a lawmaker of the opposition party the Democratic coalition said on Thursday.

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