Wagner
After Wagner’s Revolt, Russia bids to show return to order. After a weekend revolt by mercenary troops challenged Kremlin head Vladimir Putin’s hold on power, Moscow was attempting Monday to portray a return to business as normal.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of the major targets of Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s insurrection, was seen on official television in pre-recorded footage reportedly visiting troops in Ukraine.
Moscow and the Voronezh region to the south of the city withdrew “anti-terrorist” emergency security measures intended to safeguard the capital from rebel assault.
Putin has not been in public since the revolution ended, while Prigozhin was last spotted leaving the southern city of Rostov-on-Don in an armed Wagner convoy on Saturday.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared the city’s situation “stable” and hailed residents for their “calm and understanding” amid the crisis.
A “counter-terrorist” regime was declared on Saturday, as Wagner columns advanced on the city and clashed with regular forces in Voronezh, near the Ukrainian border.
-‘Moving onward’ –
However, Russia’s activity in Ukraine persisted throughout the crisis, as Shoigu – whom Prigozhin had threatened to depose – was at pains to demonstrate.
He appeared on state television on Monday, touring a Russian command bunker in Ukraine and flying in a helicopter to assess troops fighting a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The minister emphasized “great efficiency in the detection and destruction” of Ukraine’s weapons systems and soldiers during the meeting, according to the ministry of defence.
However, it was not possible to independently establish whether the report was shot before or after the Wagner revolt.
Ukrainian military authorities, on the other hand, asserted that they were making headway in a multi-pronged onslaught aimed at Russian positions in the country’s south and east.
“We are driving the enemy out of his positions on the flanks of Bakhmut,” stated ground force commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“Ukraine is regaining control of its territory.” “We’re making progress,” he remarked.
Ukraine has reclaimed 17 square kilometers of ground in the last week, increasing the total for June’s offensive to 130 square kilometers, according to Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar.
Four explosions hit a residential neighborhood in the frontline town of Druzhkivka, near Bakhmut in Donetsk’s eastern region, residents told AFP.
The blasts destroyed water and sewage pipes, smashed windows, and tossed up stones that hit yards and rooftops, but no one was injured, according to municipal officials.
“It was a ‘fun’ night, we haven’t had this in a long time, it’s been quiet for a month or so,” Lyubov, 66, remarked, pointing out the fresh hole in her cement-shingled roof.