Key events
Here is the video clip of Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation last night after the aborted Wagner uprising at the weekend.
As my colleagues Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer reported earlier, in an unscheduled late night televised address late on Monday, a visibly angry Putin said: “Any blackmail or way to bring confusion to Russia is doomed to failure … I made steps to avoid large-scale bloodshed.”
In his first public appearance since Prigozhin abandoned his armed mutiny on Saturday evening, the Russian president thanked Wagner fighters and commanders who he said had stood down to avoid bloodshed.
Without mentioning Prigozhin by name, Putin said the organisers of the rebellion “betrayed their country, their people”. He said that the enemies of Russia “wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other, to kill military personnel and civilians, so that in the end Russia would lose, and our society would split, choke in bloody civil strife”.
He also confirmed reports that Russian pilots were killed during the failed mutiny, paying tribute to the dead. “The courage and self-sacrifice of the fallen heroes-pilots saved Russia from tragic devastating consequences,” he said.
The Russian president appeared to suggest that the Wagner group would still be shut down, saying that the group’s fighters had the choice to sign a contract with the ministry of defence or relocate to Belarus if they wanted to.
Ukraine’s armed forces say they shot down two Kalibr cruise missiles on Monday night and seven Shahed UAV drones during attacks by Russian forces overnight.
In its morning update, it said Russian forces carried out 45 airstrikes and launched 38 attacks with rocket salvo systems inside Ukraine. It reported fighting around Lyman and Bakhmut, with 38 combat engagements taking place on Monday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Monday that Ukrainian forces had “advanced in all directions” following a meeting with his generals.
Today – the front. Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia. Our warriors, our frontline positions, areas of active operations at the front. Today, our warriors have advanced in all directions, and this is a happy day. I wished the guys more days like this.
His comments come after Ukrainian troops reportedly established a foothold near the Antonovsky Bridge on the left bank of the Dnipro and retook the village of Rivnopil.
Zelenskiy also visited the frontline in three places across Ukraine where he met units and gave awards.
A detachment of ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet entered the southern parts of the Philippine Sea to perform tasks as part of a long-range sea passage, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.
Citing the press service of the Pacific Fleet, Interfax reported that the crews would conduct manoeuvres “with a demonstration of the naval presence” in the Asia-Pacific
Region and “as part of strengthening partnerships.”
There was no further detail on how many ships were involved.
Russia has been boosting defences in its vast far-eastern regions bordering the Asia-Pacific, accusing the U.S. of expanding its presence there and raising security concerns in Japan and across the region.
– Reuters
Russia’s defence ministry said early on Tuesday that it was conducting tactical fighter jet exercises over the Baltic Sea with the main goal of testing readiness to perform combat and special tasks operations.
In a post to the Telegram messaging app, the ministry said:
The crews of the Su-27 (fighter jets) of the Baltic Fleet fired from airborne weapons at cruise missiles and mock enemy aircraft,”
The main goal of the exercise is to test the readiness of the flight crew to perform combat and special tasks as intended.”
The ministry said that in addition to improving skills, the fighter jets crews are on “round-the-clock combat duty” guarding the air space of Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
– Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin used an address to the nation on Monday to accuse Ukraine and its Western Allies of wanting Russians to “kill each other” following a mutiny by the mercenary group Wagner.
The address was his first public appearance since the confrontation over the weekend in which he thanked Russians for their “patriotism”.
From the start of the events, on my orders steps were taken to avoid large-scale bloodshed.
It was precisely this fratricide that Russia’s enemies wanted: both the neo-Nazis in Kyiv and their Western patrons, and all sorts of national traitors. They wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other.
Meanwhile US President Joe Biden gave a speech at the White House where he described the mutiny as “part of a struggle within the Russian system” and stressed that the US communicated that it was not involved.
We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it.
President Biden said he discussed the situation in a conference call with allies who resolved not to allow Putin to blame events n the West or NATO.
– Reuters
Vladimir Putin has paid tribute to pilots killed fighting an aborted mutiny over the weekend, confirming for the first time that Russian aviators had been lost in battle as the Wagner mercenary group marched on Moscow.
Putin’s televised address on Monday was his first public comment since Saturday’s armed revolt led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, and confirmed reports on social media that Wagner forces had downed Russian aircraft in the fighting.
The courage and self-sacrifice of the fallen heroes-pilots saved Russia from tragic devastating consequences.
There has been no official information about how many pilots died or how many aircraft were shot down.
Some Russian Telegram channels monitoring Russia’s military activity, including the blog Rybar with more than a million subscribers, reported on Saturday that 13 Russian pilots were killed during the day-long mutiny.
Among the aircraft downed were three Mi-8 MTPR electronic warfare helicopters, and an Il-18 aircraft with its crew, Rybar reported.
These claims could not be independently verified.
– Reuters
Opening Summary
Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine – this is Royce Kurmelovs bringing you the latest developments.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a late night address to the nation ahead of a meeting with his generals and security officials following the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group. Putin paid tribute to Russian pilots who were killed during the uprising, confirming reports that several planes and helicopters were shot down and thanked security officials, including defence minister Sergei Shoigu, for their response.
Putin did not explicitly name Prigozhin but used the address to accuse Ukraine and its western allies of wanting Russians to “kill each other”. He claimed claimed Prigozhin’s uprising was “doomed to fail”, adding that the country showed “unity” in the face of a “treacherous” rebellion. These comments have been rejected by US President Joe Biden who said the US has repeatedly told Russia it viewed the mutiny as an internal Russian matter.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had “advanced in all directions” on Monday following a meeting with his generals. “This is a happy day. I wished the guys [had] more days like this,” he added. His comments come after Ukrainian troops reportedly established a foothold near the Antonovsky bridge on the left bank of the Dnieper and retook the village of Rivnopil.
Zelenskiy also visited two areas along the frontline in eastern and southern Ukraine on Monday. The Ukrainian president handed out awards and posed with troops in video footage posted online, including a to unit heavily involved in holding off a Russian advanced in city Bakhmut. “Thank you for protecting our country, sovereignty, our families, children, Ukraine,” he said.
In other news:
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Prigozhin released his first statement since the mutiny in which he denied his forces engaged in an attempted coup. In an 11-minute speech released via Telegram, Prigozhin said he was staging a protest at the treatment of his men and the conduct of the war with a “march for justice”. Wagner forces seized control of the military command in the southern city of Rostov and advanced within 200km of Moscow before pulling back. Prigozhin said his forces had set up artillery south of Moscow but decided that “a demonstration of protest was enough”.
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The US has prepared a $500m military aid package for Ukraine. The package will deliver ground vehicles, including Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine as the country continues its offensive. The announcement follows a pledge by the Australian government to deliver a new $110m military assistance package in the next round of support for Ukraine, including vehicles, ammunition and humanitarian funding.
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The defence ministry released footage on Monday that it claimed showed Shoigu “visiting the forward command post of one of the formations of the ‘western’ group of troops”. In the video, Shoigu is shown riding in a vehicle and arriving at a command post, where he listens to reports from officers and pores over a battlefield map. The video was released without sound and it was unclear when and where it was filmed, nonetheless, the footage showed tacit government support for Shoigu.
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The aborted Wagner mutiny demonstrates that Moscow committed a strategic mistake by waging war on Ukraine, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday. “The events over the weekend are an internal Russian matter, and yet another demonstration of the big strategic mistake that President Vladimir Putin made with his illegal annexation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine,” he told reporters on a visit to Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.
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Events over the weekend show that Russia’s military power is “cracking” and the “monster Putin has created is turning against him”, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell has said. But he warned the instability in Russia is dangerous for Europe and must be taken into account in the coming days and weeks.
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Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda warned that Nato would need to strengthen its eastern flank if Prigozhin is exiled to Belarus. Following a state security council meeting on the mercenary group’s attempt to revolt against Russian military leadership, Nausėda said: “If Prigozhin or part of the Wagner group ends up in Belarus with unclear plans and unclear intentions, it will only mean that we need to further strengthen the security of our eastern borders.”
