By This was CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine covering June 28, 2023. See here for the latest updates.
Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko urged dissenters not to create divisions in his relationship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after Minsk stepped in to provide sanctuary to failed insurrectionist and former Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin, whose paramilitary group Wagner has played a key role in the war in Ukraine and in furthering Russian military objectives abroad, accepted exile into Belarus as part of an amnesty deal brokered in the wake of his fizzled attempt to turn arms on Moscow over the weekend. The Wagner leader arrived in Belarus on Tuesday.
Prigozhin’s rebellion has spurred Ukrainian hopes of deepening cracks and a nascent decline to the Putin regime.
On the frontline, Ukraine has accused Moscow of a missile attack in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, which allegedly struck a restaurant, leaving at least eight dead.
The U.S. State Department condemned the latest Russian attacks on populated areas in a daily briefing, calling it another example of the country’s “continuing escalation and the sheer brutality of its war of aggression.”
At least 13 people died in multiple missile attacks in Ukraine. In the city of Kramatorsk, at least 10 were killed after a missile struck a local restaurant.
“The U.S. unequivocally condemns the targeting of civilians and offers our sincere condolences to those lost in this most recent strike in the city center,” said Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson at the State Department. “We are appalled by this, but unfortunately not surprised by Russia’s conduct.”
—Chris Eudaily
Poland received its first batch of American-made Abrams tanks under a multibillion-dollar program that also includes a new maintenance center, Stars and Stripes reported.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said a port near Szczecin was slated to take delivery of 14 tanks and additional tanks will arrive within months, according to the Stars and Stripes report.
— Melodie Warner
Ukrainian authorities arrested a man who allegedly helped Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 10 people at a pizza restaurant in east Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.
Ukraine’s National Police has said the Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded 61 other people and rescuers are still searching the rubble.
The detained man is an employee of the local gas transportation company who allegedly filmed the restaurant for the Russians and informed them about its popularity, the Security Service of Ukraine said in a Telegram post, according to the AP report. It provided no evidence for its claim.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated that Russia doesn’t aim at civilian targets, although its air strikes have killed many civilians, the AP reported.
— Melodie Warner
Switzerland on Wednesday extended its financial and travel sanctions on Russian entities and persons, following similar measures announced by the European Union on Friday.
Members of Russia’s armed forces, including recruits of the Wagner mercenary group that staged last weekend’s aborted mutiny, were among those targeted, a statement said.
The sanctions also include asset freezes and a ban on travel to and transit through Switzerland. The measures also target people and organizations that support the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The EU last week announced an 11th package of sanctions, which also took aim at sanctions circumvention, including through intermediary countries.
— Karen Gilchrist
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Wednesday said that the Kremlin appreciates the Vatican’s attempt to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
It comes as the papal envoy for peace talks, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, arrived in Moscow to hold talks with Putin’s foreign affairs adviser.
“We highly value the efforts and initiatives of the Vatican and welcome the aspiration of the pope to contribution to ending the armed conflict [in Ukraine],” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular briefing, according to Reuters.
— Karen Gilchrist
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday said that Kyiv would not accept any peace agreement that would allow Russia’s war on Ukraine to become a frozen conflict.
His comments came during a speech to parliament on Ukraine’s Constitution Day.
— Karen Gilchrist
At least three people were killed in Russia’s shelling of Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region on Wednesday, the regional governor said.
“Unfortunately, as a result of this shelling, three civilians in the village of Vovchanski Khutory were killed near their homes,” governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. He said the victims were men aged 45, 48 and 57.
CNBC was not immediately able to verify details of the attack.
The separate death toll from a Tuesday evening missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has now risen to 10. Police said the number of wounded had reached 61.
Asked about the Kramatorsk attack, the Kremlin said that Russia attacks only military targets, not civilian ones.
— Karen Gilchrist
The body of a boy was pulled from the rubble of a building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday, taking the death toll from a Tuesday missile strike to nine, the city mayor said.
The official did not give the boy’s age.
The number of those wounded in the strike on a busy local restaurant is said to have reached at least 60.
— Karen Gilchrist
Ukraine sees an end to the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the horizon, following recent tensions between Russia’s defense officials and frontline-prominent paramilitary troop Wagner.
“I think the countdown has started,” Andriy Yermak, close adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a Kyiv briefing, according to the BBC.
Former Putin ally Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin briefly turned arms against Moscow over the weekend, dealing an unprecedented blow to the Kremlin regime despite the militia group’s ultimate withdrawal.
Prigozhin has accepted exile into Belarus in exchange for calling off the insurrection, which unveiled the depth of cracks in Russian unity.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Lithuania has acquired two NASAMS air defense systems that will be transferred to Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter, in the run-up to a summit of the NATO military alliance over July 11-12.
“Looking forward to more collective decisions on support to Ukraine at the #NATO summit in Vilnius,” the Lithuanian head of state added.
Ukraine has repeatedly entreated donations of air defense units to protect its skies from Russian missiles, with a focus on the costly U.S.-provided Patriot systems.
— Ruxandra Iordache
At least eight people were killed and 56 were injured in a Russian missile attack that struck a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian state emergency services said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.
The toll includes three children.
Rescue operations to retrieve further potential victims from the rubble are ongoing.
Sergey Kruk, leader of the state emergency service of Ukraine, described the latest offensive as a “cynical missile attack,” in Twitter comments translated via Google.
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko advised government officials, analysts and bloggers in his country and Russia against attempts to set him “at odds” with his Moscow counterpart and long-time ally Vladimir Putin, according to Belarusian state-owned agency Belta.
His comments come after Belarus offered tenuous haven to Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, whose short-lived coup attempt against the Moscow brass fizzled out over the weekend. Prigozhin has struck an amnesty deal with the Kremlin for exile in Belarus.
Recounting the start of his weekend negotiations with Prigozhin, Lukashenko said that Wagner forces on the frontline were “extremely dissatisfied,” particularly the commanding officers under whose “pressure and influence” the paramilitary leader acted, Belta reported on Tuesday.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered his first televised address since Wagner Group mercenaries instigated a failed mutiny against Russian military leaders over the weekend.
Putin called the rebellion “criminal activity to split and weaken the country, which is now confronting a colossal external threat,” meaning the international response to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian president said the organizers of the armed insurrection would be “brought to justice,” yet he did not mention Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin by name.
He also offered apparent clemency to the hundreds of Wagner mercenaries who participated in the armed march from the southern city of Rostov to about 200 miles outside Moscow.
The speech did little to clarify what comes next for the Wagner Group or for the Russian military, which was unprepared for the speed and ease with which the rebel convoy traveled through the country on major highways.
In his speech, Putin insisted his troops would have crushed the rebellion if it had proceeded any further.
— Christina Wilkie
A private business jet linked to Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin landed in Belarus on Tuesday, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.
The Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft, registration number RA-02795, matches the identification codes of the jet belonging to Prigozhin, according to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It landed early on Tuesday morning near Minsk, having taken off from St. Petersburg shortly after 1 a.m. local time (5 p.m. ET Monday), though it is not yet known who was on board.
Under the deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko over the weekend, which brought a halt to Wagner’s rebellion against Moscow, Prigozhin has been effectively exiled to Belarus. His exact whereabouts have been unknown since the uprising.
— Elliot Smith
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday thanked Russia’s army and security services for preventing what he described as a civil war when faced with an armed mutiny over the weekend.
Speaking inside the Kremlin, Putin told around 2,500 members of the military, security forces, and the National Guard that they had defended their “motherland” against chaos.
“You have defended the constitutional order, the lives, security and freedom of our citizens. You have saved our Motherland from upheaval. In fact, you have stopped a civil war,” Putin said.
“In this difficult situation, you have acted precisely and harmoniously, you have proved by your deeds your loyalty to the Russian people and the military oath. You have shown your responsibility for the fate of our Motherland and its future,” he added.
The Kremlin said earlier Tuesday it did not agree with assessments that the weekend’s escalation led by the Wagner mercenary group had shaken Putin’s two-decade hold on power.
Putin also told those assembled on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square that an unspecified number of Russian military pilots had been killed when trying to stop the advance of the mutineers
“In the confrontation with the insurgents our comrades-in-arms, the aviators died,” said Putin.
“They did not falter and carried out their orders and their military duty with honor,” he added, requesting a minute’s silence for the dead pilots.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose removal Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had demanded, was also present on the square.
— Karen Gilchrist
U.S. sanctions Wagner boss Prigozhin; Putin thanks Russian army for preventing ‘civil war.’
