Live Update: Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine; day 491 – News Block

Police detain coordinator involved in Kramatorsk attack: Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the coordinator involved in Tuesday’s deadly attack in Kramatorsk was detained by police.

“Today, the Security Service of Ukraine together with the police special forces detained the person who coordinated this terrorist attack,” Zelensky said in his late-night speech on Wednesday.

According to the Ukrainian president, the detained person is being accused of treason and could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Zelensky called the people involved in the Kramatorsk attack “traitors of humanity.”

“Everyone who helps Russian terrorists destroy lives deserves the maximum punishment,” Zelensky added.

“And this applies not only to some collaborators. Everything is clear about them. These are people without humanity. Anyone in the world who does not understand that one cannot be complicit with a terrorist state must be held accountable before the entire international community,” he continued.

Zelensky did not provide further details of who the alleged coordinator is or his nationality.

More than 100 people have died from the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam: Ukraine

More than 100 people have died after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson earlier this month, according to a Wednesday update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

More than 60 bodies were found on Saturday and Sunday alone, according to the update.

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam is one of Europe’s biggest industrial and ecological disasters in decades. The catastrophe destroyed entire villages, flooded farmland, deprived tens of thousands of people of electricity and clean water, and caused massive environmental damage.

It is still impossible to say whether the dam collapsed because it was deliberately attacked or whether the breach may have been caused by structural failure. The dam and hydroelectric power plant are under Russian control and therefore inaccessible to independent investigators, leaving experts around the world trying to piece together what happened based on limited visual evidence.

Several Western officials have blamed Russia for the disaster, either directly accusing Moscow of attacking the dam or saying Russia is responsible simply because it is the aggressor in the war against Ukraine.

Putin says he had no doubts about supporting the Russians during Wagner’s rebellion

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had “no doubt” about the support of Russian citizens during Wagner’s rebellion over the weekend, according to a Kremlin reading on Wednesday.

“There is no person in Dagestan who does not support the decisions of the leaders of the Russian Federation, which were adopted on June 24 of this year,” Dagestan President Sergey Melikov said at a working meeting with Putin.

“I had no doubts about the reactions in Dagestan and throughout the country,” Putin replied.

Putin visited the Dagestan region on Wednesday and was greeted by excited supporters on the streets of the city of Derbent, according to a video released by the Kremlin.

US condemns Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk

The State Department said the United States “unequivocally condemns” the Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday.

“The United States unequivocally condemns the attacks on civilians and offers our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in this most recent attack in the center of the city. We are appalled by this, but sadly not surprised by Russia’s behaviour. This is yet another example of Russia’s continued escalation and sheer brutality of its aggressive war in Ukraine,” according to senior deputy spokesman Vedant Patel.

“While others are concentrating on finding a way to end this war, Russia is once again carrying out attacks, sending drones and missiles into residential areas of a neighboring country,” Patel added.

Russian authorities say at least 14 soldiers were killed during a raid in the Belgorod region in early June.

At least 14 servicemen from Russia’s Pskov region were killed in early June during a raid that occurred in the Belgorod region, Pskov Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said in a video message posted on his Telegram on Wednesday.

“A difficult event that should be mentioned is the farewell to the servicemen of the Velikiye Luki, Pskov, Novosokolniki, Pustoshka and Opochka districts. They died at the beginning of the month during the attack of the sabotage and reconnaissance group in the Belgorod region. Funerals took place both last week and this week. Unfortunately, these are not the last dueling events. At the moment, we know of at least 14 who died in those days,” Vedernikov said.

According to Vedernikov, at least 10 Pskov servicemen were also captured during the raid.

“They were displayed by the Ukrainian propaganda and their accomplices among the treacherous armed formations. At the same time, a resounding video appeared with a proposal to the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, about an exchange on neutral territory. As we now know, there is no fair exchange with militants of pseudo-Russian terrorist organizations. It was a banal trap. We did everything possible to speed up the negotiations on the exchange of our prisoners, ”he added.

According to the governor of Pskov, three Russian servicemen have already been exchanged.

“This did not happen yesterday. The relatives were notified a long time ago. But we decided not to make this sensational news because the moment is very difficult for everyone. There are procedures that are carried out by counterintelligence,” Vedernikov said.

The Belgorod region has seen a growing incidence of cross-border fire, in both directions, as well as incursions from Ukraine by groups calling themselves anti-Putin Russian partisans.

Death toll in Kramatorsk attack rises to 11: Ukrainian officials

The death toll from Tuesday’s attack in the eastern city of Kramatorsk rose to 11, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Telegram on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s Security Service said it detained a man who allegedly explored a Kramatorsk pizzeria in the city center and sent a video of the site to the Russian Armed Forces before Tuesday’s attack.

The head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said that Russia carried out the Iskander missile attack. The attack damaged 32 buildings, he added.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the target hit in the attack was actually a temporary command post of the Ukrainian army unit.

Russian FM: There are no “serious proposals” from the West on a peace deal with Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that there have been no serious proposals from the West to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

“There were no serious proposals from anyone at all. I mean the West,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Big Game program, excerpts from which were posted on the official website of the Foreign Ministry.

According to Lavrov, the longer Ukraine and the West take to reach a peaceful agreement, the more “difficult it will be to negotiate.”

Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented G20 leaders with a 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that included a path to nuclear safety, food safety, a special court for alleged crimes of war and a final peace treaty with Moscow. .

Wagner’s rebellion destroyed the myth of the “invincibility” of the Russian army: Ukrainian presidential adviser

The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that Wagner’s failed insurrection destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Russian army, in an interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour.

Yermak, speaking from kyiv, claimed that the events of the past few days had “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Russian army… finally destroyed the myth that everything in Russia is under control.”

The rebellion was just “one more (piece) of evidence that Putin’s attempt to revive the USSR ultimately failed. I think it is a very strong signal that the war in Ukraine is a terrible, barbaric and illegal invasion,” Yermak added.

He also said: “Everything that has happened in Russia (these) last few days is the result of this war,” adding: “I think that even after this, more people in the world are sure of Ukraine’s victory.”

Ukraine’s leaders say they have made progress “on all fronts” since the weekend.

Amanpour then pressed Yermak, as to whether the insurrection was the first serious crack in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armor, or whether it would only cause the longtime leader to double down on his views and control of the nation.

Yermak said: “These last few days it has been confirmed that they are not in control of the situation, they are not living in reality and of course they cannot make the real decisions.” He also said that he thought that “all over the world we are watching this show… I think it will have a very serious and historical influence for everything that will happen in the future.”

“I am sure that many people in the world, especially many world leaders will change their opinion and trust of everything said,” Yermak added.