Day 495 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Prigozhin promised "Victory at the Front" in his first words from Belarus
Ukraine | July 3, 2023, Monday // 08:51| views
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Day 495 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:
- Prigozhin promised "victory at the front" in his first words from Belarus
- Hungary wants an extension of permission to export products produced from Russian oil
- Podolyak to Obama: Look at the map now and see what is happening in Ukraine!
- EU considers relief for Russian bank over grain deal with Ukraine
- A Ukrainian writer is the 13th victim of Kramatorsk’s tragedy
- Moscow claims to have foiled an assassination attempt on Crimea's prime minister
- Over 700,000 Ukrainian children were taken to Russia
- Russia was ready to compromise. But "the regime in Kyiv should be declared fascist”
- Russian advances in several directions in Donbas
- Ukraine continues its advance towards Bakhmut
- An international center for investigations into the Russian invasion of Ukraine opens in The Hague
- Withdrawal of "Wagner" does not affect Russia's combat potential in Ukraine and there will be no new mobilization, says Russian lawmaker
- Russian state television accused Prigozhin of losing his mind over money
Prigozhin promised "victory at the front" in his first words from Belarus
The founder of the private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, made his first audio statement in a week and said in it that much of the goals of the June 23 and 24 rebellion against the Ministry of Defense had been achieved.
In the message distributed by the (still) close to "Wagner" channel in "Telegram" Gray Zone, Prigozhin also talked about future "victories at the front", without going into details.
"Today more than ever we need your support. Thank you for that," said Prigozhin. "I want you to understand that our Justice March was about fighting traitors and mobilizing our society. And I think we succeeded a lot in that."
"I'm sure you'll see our next victories at the front in the near future. Thanks guys," he concluded.
He should have been in Belarus for days, as announced by the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko and after the agreement was reached with the Kremlin, when on the evening of June 24, Prigozhin decided to turn the convoy of "Wagner" fighters towards Moscow.
The audio recording was published shortly after the decision to close Prigozhin's media holding (once the most popular media group in Russia), which was announced by the director of one of the publications.
The message of the businessman, who before and during the rebellion every day published comments on the official channel of his press service on "Telegram" or on others related to him, follows the first message since the rebellion from the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, with whom he was in open conflict.
Shoigu (some observers attribute the rebellion entirely against him) said that Prigozhin's "provocation" would not affect the actions of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. According to the defense minister, the plan failed because the armed forces are loyal. Some observers dispute this, citing the fact that Prigozhin's convoy to Moscow was almost unopposed.
Hungary wants an extension of permission to export products produced from Russian oil
Hungary will ask the European Union for a one-year extension of the exemption from sanctions against Russian oil, which allows Slovnaft, part of MOL, to export to the Czech Republic refined petroleum products produced from Russian oil, announced Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, quoted by "Reuters".
After a meeting with his Slovak counterpart, he stated that MOL needs another year to complete its investments in Slovnaft, which would enable the refinery to process non-Russian oil.
MOL owns refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, fed mainly by the southern pipe of the Druzhba oil pipeline. Slovakia gets almost all of its oil from Russia, but plans to gradually reduce the amount and start getting it from other sources.
In April, MOL President and CEO Zsolt Hernadi announced that the company plans to partially fund 0 million to 0 million in technology investments to enable refineries in Hungary and Slovakia to process oil grades other than Russian Urals.
Last year, only 5 percent of the oil that entered Slovakia was not Russian, but by the end of 2023, its amount should increase to 30-35 percent, he added.
Podolyak to Obama: Look at the map now and see what is happening in Ukraine!
The adviser to the Ukrainian president Mykhailo Podolyak criticized Barack Obama for the words of the 44th president of the USA about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UNIAN reported, quoted by BTA.
Commenting for the Russian-American opposition journalist Michael Nacke, the adviser called Obama's speech "appalling."
Recently, the former American president gave an interview in which he also spoke about the war in Ukraine and stated that "there was no armed invasion of Crimea" in 2014, because there were many Russian-speaking citizens on the peninsula and "a certain sympathy" for the views of Russia federation. Obama also said that he, along with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called for sanctions against Russia to prevent Vladimir Putin from continuing to invade Donbas and the rest of Ukraine. Obama pointed out that he and Merkel "held the front", notes UNIAN.
"He (Obama) doesn't even ask himself the question: ‘Wasn't it you who downplayed the risk?’ Did you prevent the war? Or maybe it's not exactly a war? Look at the map now and see what is happening in Ukraine. Live - turn on the TV and watch. Turns out you prevented the war, didn't you? And what is that you're looking at?" Podolyak said.
In his words, the West "does not want to admit its wrong decisions that led to the current tragedy". At the same time, Western leaders could have started a discussion about the impossibility of having any relations with Putin even after the "Magnitsky" list, Volodymyr Zelensky's advisor believes.
Podolyak also noted that in 2022, Russia produced 512 ballistic and cruise missiles, in which it used elements from the electronics industry of European countries and the United States.
"Europe looks at Russia with 'wide-closed eyes,'" Podolyak added.
EU considers relief for Russian bank over grain deal with Ukraine
The European Union is considering a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to create a subsidiary to reconnect with the global financial system, writes the Financial Times, quoted by Reuters.
The bank is currently under severe Western sanctions, with the aim of the discussions being to preserve the grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to world markets, the newspaper reports, quoted by BTA.
The move comes after Russia said last week it saw no reason to extend the deal beyond July 17 because the West had acted in an "outrageous" manner on the accord, but Moscow assured the poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.
The Russian authorities' plan, proposed through UN-brokered talks, would allow the new banking unit to process payments related to grain exports, the paper said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The new subsidiary will be allowed to use the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which was closed to Russia's biggest banks after the invasion of Ukraine last year.
Russia and Ukraine are major players in the grain and oilseed markets, ranging from wheat and barley to canola and sunflower oil. Russia is also dominant in the fertilizer market.
In addition to restoring access to SWIFT, Moscow is also seeking to resume supplies of agricultural machinery and parts, as well as lifting restrictions on insurance and reinsurance.
A Ukrainian writer is the 13th victim of Kramatorsk’s tragedy
Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, injured last Tuesday in a Russian missile attack on a popular restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, became the 13th victim of the attack, the BBC reported.
Amelina died on Saturday, but the news was announced by the writer's non-governmental organization PEN Ukraine on Monday.
"Her death was caused by life-threatening injuries she sustained during the Russian bombing of the restaurant in Kramatorsk," the organization said.
Thirty-seven-year-old Amelina was injured during dinner at a restaurant, popular among military personnel, volunteers and journalists. She was at the establishment as an escort for a group of Colombian writers and journalists who traveled to the front to see the war with their own eyes.
She was hospitalized with fractures at the base of the skull.
13 people, including three children, were killed in the attack, which Moscow said was aimed at a Ukrainian mobile command center that was successfully destroyed. More than 60 people were injured.
Amelina was one of the most famous young novelists in Ukraine. She began documenting war crimes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also working with children near the front lines.
Last year, she discovered the diary of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was kidnapped and killed by Russian troops in the city of Izium soon after the war began.
Her first non-fiction book in English, “War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War”, is coming soon.
On her Twitter profile, she posted this post, accompanied by a photo of a residential building destroyed by a rocket:
“It's me in this picture. I'm a Ukrainian writer. I have portraits of great Ukrainian poets on my bag. I look like I should be taking pictures of books, art, and my little son. But I document Russia's war crimes and listen to the sound of shelling, not poems. Why?
It's me in this picture.
— Victoria Amelina ???????? (@vamelina) June 7, 2022
I'm a Ukrainian writer. I have portraits of great Ukrainian poets on my bag. I look like I should be taking pictures of books, art, and my little son. But I document Russia's war crimes and listen to the sound of shelling, not poems. Why? #StopRussiaNow pic.twitter.com/R50RqacXSZ
Moscow claims to have foiled an assassination attempt on Crimea's prime minister
Russia's Federal Security Service said on Monday it had arrested a Russian man recruited by Ukrainian special services to assassinate Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov.
The arrested man, who was only said to have been born in 1988, had undergone a training course in intelligence and subversive activities, according to a statement from Russian counterintelligence, quoted by the Interfax news agency.
He arrived in Crimea in June and began preparing for a terrorist attack that was supposed to target Aksyonov's company car.
However, the assassin did not have time to carry out the criminal intent, as he was detained when the explosive device was taken out of the cache, reports the counterintelligence in Moscow.
He is detained on two charges - attempt to commit a terrorist act and illegal possession of explosives, Interfax reports.
Aksyonov is the administrative head of Crimea and the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the province. In addition, he is a member of the leadership of Vladimir Putin's party - United Russia. He has been in office since the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 after a locally organized referendum that was not internationally recognized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sets Moscow's withdrawal from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, as a precondition for starting peace talks with Russia.
Over 700,000 Ukrainian children were taken to Russia
Russia has brought about 700,000 children from conflict zones in Ukraine to Russian territory, announced Grigory Karasin, head of the international commission in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament.
"In recent years, 700,000 children have found refuge with us, fleeing the bombing and shelling from the conflict zones in Ukraine," Karasin wrote on his Telegram message channel, quoted by Reuters.
Moscow claims that its program to bring children from Ukraine to Russian territory is to protect orphans and children left behind in the conflict zone. But Ukraine says many children have been illegally deported and the United States says thousands of children have been forcibly removed from their homes.
Most of the movement of people and children took place in the first few months of the war, before the first major offensive by the Ukrainian military last August.
In July 2022, the United States estimated that Russia had "forcibly deported" 260,000 children, while the Ukrainian Ministry of Integration of the Occupied Territories says that 19,492 Ukrainian children are currently considered illegally deported.
In March, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lavrova-Belova on suspicion of war crimes related to the deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories.
Russia was ready to compromise. But "the regime in Kyiv should be declared fascist”
Russia is ready to compromise with the West, but only if its interests are taken into account, believes the former Russian Prime Minister and President Dmitry Medvedev, who is the current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
In an article titled "The Age of Confrontation" and published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Medvedev commented on what Russia is willing to do to get out of the phase of total confrontation.
"We are really ready to look for reasonable compromises, as the Russian president has repeatedly said," he wrote, adding that compromises "are possible, but with the understanding of several basic points."
As the first of these main points, Medvedev points out that Moscow's interests must be taken into account "to the greatest extent possible".
"In principle, there should be no more anti-Russian sentiment, otherwise sooner or later everything will end very badly. The Kyiv Nazi regime must be destroyed. Banned by law in civilized Europe as fascist. Thrown like a rotten piece of bacon in the garbage dump of the world history," said the vice president of the Security Council.
He did not talk about who might replace the current Kyiv regime and what might remain of Ukraine.
According to the Russian vice-president, another principle point for a possible compromise is the drafting of a new international document.
"All the results of the total confrontation should be collected in a new document, similar to the Helsinki Act, with which the conference ended in 1975," Medvedev said.
The establishment of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was preceded by the signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (Helsinki Accords) on 1 August 1975 in Helsinki. It was signed by 33 European countries, the USA and Canada after three years of intensive consultations. In this act, new principles of international cooperation were laid down. The organization that arose as a result of it was called the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, TASS recalls.
However, Medvedev now states that "Finland is already a hostile country for us, which was once created by Lenin for thoughtless reasons, and now has joined NATO." Then he says that "it would be better to temporarily suspend diplomatic relations with Finland and similar countries (such as Poland, the Baltic states and, of course, Great Britain) or at least to lower the level of these relations for the time being".
Reforming international organizations is the third key moment for reaching a compromise, Medvedev points out.
"Probably, a careful restructuring of the UN and other international organizations will be necessary. It is possible only with full respect for the rights of the permanent members of the Security Council, otherwise it will be completely ineffective. And then the UN will sink into oblivion as an institution that has failed to live up to the hopes of free nations," says Medvedev.
The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation is not sure that it will be possible to reach a compromise.
"For now, the Western political class, which has completely degenerated, is trying to raise the stakes in a bloody clown horror. In a state of persistent dementia, it is pushing our little world towards World War III," he adds, and says that he himself is not optimistic.
And then he quotes Chekhov who says that "Life is essentially a very simple thing, and it takes a lot of effort to mess it up." "But there is always hope," concluded Medvedev in the publication in the Russian paper.
Russian advances in several directions in Donbas
The Russian army is advancing in several directions in Donbas, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reports.
The attacks are aimed at Avdiivka, Mariinka, Lyman and Svatove.
The situation is quite complicated, according to Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar.
Fighting continues around Bakhmut, with the Ukrainians advancing on the southern flank with partial success. In the north, however, the Russian command has transferred two assault regiments.
On the southern front, Ukrainian troops are encountering stubborn resistance in their attempt to break through to Berdiansk and Melitopol.
An air alert was declared in several areas overnight after the launch of Kalibr cruise missiles by the Russian Black Sea Fleet was detected.
The permanent representative of Russia in the office of the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, said that there are no grounds to preserve the current situation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative since there is no progress in the implementation of the Russian conditions.
After the latest extension, the agreement, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain by sea, is in force until July 18.
Ukraine continues its advance towards Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces continue to gradually advance towards the flanks of the key city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. This was announced by the spokesman of the Eastern Command, Serhiy Cherevatiy, to the national television, reports "Kyiv Independent". Military activity was also reported in the Kherson region, where Russian forces shelled a residential area
The Ukrainian forces are "pressing" the Russian troops and liberating the territories, announced Serhiy Cherevaty, without however specifying how far they have advanced. Russian positions on the southern and northern flanks were attacked, with success near two settlements south of Bakhmut.
In its latest analysis, the American Institute for the Study of War said that Ukraine's offensive operations near Bakhmut could force Russia to withdraw defense forces from other regions of Ukraine. According to the report, Russia has already deployed reinforcements in the Bakhmut area.
Military activity in the southern part of Ukraine as well. Several people were injured during Russian shelling yesterday at noon in a residential area in Kherson, reported the local Ukrainian military administration, quoted by "Guardian".
The Russian shelling in Kherson caused damage to a high-rise residential building, a pharmacy and a restaurant. The number of injured is not reported. According to the information, one of the injured is a 50-year-old man who is hospitalized.
The Guardian reports heavy fighting continues in Kherson, near the destroyed Antonovsky Bridge over the Dnieper River.
Yesterday’s attack comes after Russia attacked Kyiv with drones for the first time in almost two weeks. In addition to the capital, an air alert was declared in other regions of Ukraine.
The air force said the attack involved eight Iranian Shahid drones and three cruise missiles that were downed. Witnesses heard explosions similar to the sound of air defense systems hitting targets. As a result of falling debris in two districts of Kyiv region, three private houses were damaged. One person was injured.
An international center for investigations into the Russian invasion of Ukraine opens in The Hague
An international bureau charged with the task of conducting investigations in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine is being opened in The Hague today, AFP reported. This is the first stage towards the possible creation of a special tribunal, before which the highest-ranking Russian representatives will be tried because of the war in Ukraine.
The so-called “International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine” unites prosecutors from Kyiv, the EU, the USA and the International Criminal Court. It is a kind of prosecutor's office that will have the mission to investigate and gather evidence.
The opening of the Center will be accompanied by a press conference at the headquarters of Eurojust, the European justice agency. The press conference will be attended by Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the ICC, Kenneth Polite, the US Deputy Attorney General, as well as the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders.
Calls for a special tribunal for the war in Ukraine have multiplied, as the ICC is only competent to try war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged disappearance of Ukrainian children.
Kyiv has been pushing for a special tribunal since hundreds of bodies were found following the April 2022 withdrawal of Russian forces from Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital.
International support did not stop growing and in February the European Commission announced the creation of the Center, which will be opened today in The Hague. Brussels has stated that this Center will have the ultimate goal of prosecuting those responsible for the invasion of Ukraine.
US involvement at the Center has added weight to calls for a special tribunal, even though the US still refuses to become a member of the ICC.
During a visit to The Hague in June, US Attorney General Merrick Garland named Special Prosecutor Jessica Kim to represent the country in the new office.
However, complex questions remain regarding the functioning of a possible special tribunal, with Ukraine supporting the idea of this being defined by a UN General Assembly resolution. But hundreds of Western supporters of Kyiv fear that the initiative does not have enough international support and are calling for a hybrid tribunal made up of Ukrainian judges and judges of other nationalities.
Withdrawal of "Wagner" does not affect Russia's combat potential in Ukraine and there will be no new mobilization, says Russian lawmaker
The withdrawal of the private military company "Wagner" from the battlefield in Ukraine does not affect Russia's combat potential, said Colonel-General Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the defense committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, world agencies reported.
The influential parliamentarian said that the Russian regular army managed to repel the Ukrainian forces even without Wagner fighters.
"There will be no need for a new mobilization wave," said Kartapolov.
Russian state television accused Prigozhin of losing his mind over money
Russian state television accused the leader of the private military company "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin of losing his mind because of money, reported AFP. According to the media, "Prigozhin became crazy after receiving huge sums of money," said Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the leading voices of state television and host of a weekly show.
"The feeling of believing that everything is allowed to you appeared in him some time ago, during the Wagner operations in Syria and Africa," said Kiselyov regarding Prigozhin.
According to him, this feeling intensified after the capture of Soledar and Bakhmut in Ukraine by Prigozhin's mercenaries. "He believed that at the same time he could oppose the Ministry of Defense, the state and the president personally," said Kisilov.
The presenter assured, without providing evidence to support his claims, that "Wagner" received 858 billion rubles (8.8 billion euros) of public funds.
According to the journalist, one of the big factors in the Wagner revolt was the defense ministry's refusal to extend the lucrative contract signed with Prigozhin's “Concord” restaurant group.
The "Wagner" rebellion lasted only one day. It ended with an agreement providing for Prigozhin's departure to Belarus. No sanctions were announced against the mutineers, but the future of Prigozhin's companies appears uncertain.
On Saturday, Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, known as the Wagner Center, announced on Telegram that it was moving to another location, but assured that it would continue to operate in a new form. According to the Wall Street Journal, FSB agents searched the group's headquarters to look for evidence against Prigozhin.
Prigozhin assures that his rebellion was not aimed at overthrowing the government, but to save "Wagner" from being disbanded by the Russian General Staff, which he accuses of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine.
Prigozhin has not made any public statements since Monday.
And yesterday the journalist Kiselyov contested the idea that the Wagner fighters were more efficient than the Russian forces and recalled that it took them 225 days to capture Bakhmut compared to 70 days for the Russian regular army to capture Mariupol.
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