Ukraine updates: Focus moves to Russia amid Wagner rebellion

A conflict simmering for months between Russia's military leadership and the powerful mercenary outfit Wagner Group under Yevgeny Prigozhin seemed to have come to a head on Saturday, with Wagner fighters claiming to have seized control of all military sites in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

As some Wagner troops made their way toward the capital, Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish those involved in what he called a "mutiny."

For his part, Prigozhin, long considered a close confidant of the president, has called his actions a "march for justice" after alleging on Friday that his troops were attacked by the regular Russian army.

He said later on Saturday that he had halted the advance toward Moscow after a reported deal brokered together with Belarus, but uncertainty remains about future cooperation between his group and the Russian military leadership.

To follow our live updates on events in Russia on Saturday, click here. 

DW also has a report on why Rostov-on-Don is of such importance. 

Meanwhile, across the border in Ukraine, Russian attacks have continued despite the turmoil unleashed by the Wagner rebellion. Here are some of the other developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Saturday, June 24.

Missile strikes hit Kyiv, Kharkhiv

Officials in Ukraine reported damage and casualties after a missile strike hit Kyiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv early Saturday.

Air defenses also "detected and destroyed more than 20 missiles in the airspace around Kyiv", said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration.

The debris of the fallen drone triggered a fire in Kyiv's tower block and injured seven people.

"Fragments of a rocket hit a parking lot," Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media and said two people were injured in central Kyiv's Solomyanskyi district.

He added that emergency services have been deployed to the site of the explosion.

At least three Russian missiles targeted Kharkiv, with one hitting a gas pipeline which triggered a fire, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

For more than an hour, the entire country was put on air raid alert.

Ukraine's air force had separately reported missiles heading towards northern regions of Sumy and Poltava and the central city of Dnipro.

"Several houses were completely destroyed. Huge crater after the explosion", said Borys Filatov, mayor of the central city of Dnipro.

 

Ukraine positive about EU membership

Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his confidence with Ukraine's prospects of becoming a European Union member in his nightly address on Friday.

The Ukrainian president said that there is clear support for Ukraine's EU membership. "We are already perceived as an EU member politically," he said.

Zelenskyy's address came after the London Ukraine Recovery Conference. On the basis of the results of the conference, he said that the event could yield the country "good gains." About five hundred global companies are interested in investing in Ukraine, he added.

Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia's hopes of becoming members of the European Union gained momentum this week as the bloc's European affairs ministers discussed their membership options at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.

The EU's Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi while addressing the media in Stockholm said that Ukraine was "on track” with its progress and had met "two out of seven conditions” required to become an EU member.

'Anti-terror' activities underway: Moscow mayor

Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said that "anti-terror" steps were being taken in the Russian capital after the chief of the mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his plans to topple the country's military leadership.

"In connection with the incoming information in Moscow, anti-terrorist measures aimed at strengthening security are being taken," Sergei Sobyanin said on social media.

The measures include additional checks on roads, to reinforce security.

Prigozhin on Saturday said that his 25,000-strong force was "ready to die" as he vowed to bring down Russia's military leadership.

"All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message. "We are dying for the Russian people."

Germany to send 45 Cheetah tanks to Ukraine

Germany will supply 45 more Cheetah (or Gepard in German) anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine by the end of the year, said Christian Freuding, the head of the Situation Center Ukraine in the Ministry of Defense.

So far Germany has delivered 34 Cheetah tanks.

It now plans to deliver 15 more on its own, and another 30 toward the end of the year in cooperation with the US, Freuding said.

 The defense general views air defense as a major weak point in the Ukrainian army's current strategy.

"We are doing what we can. But despite all this, does Ukraine have sufficient air defense? Clear no!" said Freuding. 

Freuding told Welt am Sonntag, a German Sunday newspaper, that two Iris-T SLM air defense systems will also be sent to Ukraine in addition to the Cheetah tanks.

Ukraine holds peace meeting in Denmark

Ukraine is organizing a peace meeting on Saturday in Denmark wherein several countries will participate and discuss the pathway to peace.

A Western official who spoke to Agence France Presse on the condition of anonymity said the meeting aims to discuss ways of achieving a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine.

Top security officials from the US, European Union and other countries have been invited for the meeting which will be held in Copenhagen.

 "We have worked very hard inside (the) G7 on a peace formula," said a European diplomatic source, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to AFP.
      
"So the idea is to go beyond that and involve key actors like Brazil and India. We frankly expect and wish that China will be there."

The meeting was first reported by the UK's Financial Times. According to FT's report, Kyiv had insisted on Washington to encourage Brazil, India and South Africa to attend, as well as China and Turkey -- a NATO member that has kept good ties with Russia.

Three killed in Russia's air strike in Kyiv

Authorities in Ukraine reported three deaths after Russia launched a new air strike in Kyiv on Saturday.

The missiles had targeted at least five regions across the country, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

According to Klymenko, at least three people were killed and eight wounded after a high-rise in the capital was struck by a missile.

"This is the style of terrorists. The style of Russia," he posted on Telegram.

The air defense systems destroyed 41 out of 51 cruise missiles, as well as two drones launched by Russia, according to Ukraine's military.

The head of Kyiv's military administration said that more than 20 Russian missiles were struck down around the city.

Rescue workers at the site have been searching for people possibly stuck in the rubble of the high-rise.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that more people may be trapped under the rubble.

mf/kb (AFP, Reuters, dpa)