KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – The Kremlin spokesman said Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after a short-lived uprising by the mercenary chief and his private army.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the three-hour meeting took place on June 29 and also included commanders of the military company founded by Prigozhin.
Wagner mercenaries fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Prigozhin has long been at odds with Russia’s top military leaders, culminating in an armed mutiny on June 24 in which he led his fighters into Russia.
Prigozhin ended the mutiny after a deal was negotiated that would see him exiled to Belarus.
Peskov said that during the June 29 meeting, Putin made an “assessment” of Wagner’s actions on the battlefield in Ukraine and “the events of June 24.” The president also “listened to the commanders’ explanations and offered them options for further employment and further combat deployment,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
“The commanders themselves presented their version of what happened. They emphasized that they are loyal supporters and soldiers of the head of state and commander-in-chief, and also said that they are ready to continue fighting for their homeland,” Peskov said.
This is a recent update. AP’s earlier story follows below.
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian airstrike on a school in southern Ukraine killed four adults as people gathered to receive humanitarian aid, according to Ukraine’s governor Zaporizhia region said Monday, calling the incident a “war crime.”
Three women and one man, all in their 40s, were killed in Sunday’s attack in the city of Orichiv, Gov. Yuriy Malashko said.
A guided aircraft bomb caused an explosion at the school, Malashko said without presenting any evidence. Eleven other people were injured in the attack, he said.
In all, Russia shelled 10 settlements in the province over the course of a day, he said.
Moscow denies targeting civilian targets. Russia has been accused of doing so and other war crimes on multiple occasions since its all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
In March, the International Criminal Court issued one Arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes and accused him of personal responsibility for the Kidnapping of children from Ukraine.
Broad investigations Other projects are also running in the Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Hague-based International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine is helping with these investigations.
Zaporizhia province is home Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russian forces captured early in the war and is one of the four regions of Ukraine that Putin illegally annexed last year. Retaking the province is one of the goals of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Russian airstrikes continued across Ukraine between Sunday and Monday, according to a summary by Ukraine’s Presidential Office.
In the Donetsk region, the Russians used planes, missile systems and heavy artillery to shell residential areas of six towns and villages, wounding one person, the bureau reported.
The Russian army attacked residential areas of Kherson, the regional capital of the province of the same name. A 66-year-old woman was injured, the presidential office said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense posted a video on Monday with the country’s military chief – for the first time General Valery Gerasimov has been shown since the leader of a mercenary army tried to drive him out during a recent uprising.
During last month’s brief revolt, the boss of the private defense company Wagner repeatedly blamed Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for failing to supply ammunition to his fighters in Ukraine.