A Russian soldier at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, August 4, 2022 (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Thursday’s Coverage: Ukrainians Strike Bridge Between Occupied Kherson and Crimea — Russian Proxy Officials

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 2209 GMT:

The former commander of the Ukraine invasion, Gen. Sergey Surovikin has sent a video message to Wagner Group mercenaries: “Before it’s too late, we must obey the will and order of the president, stop and return to your bases.”

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is persisting with a call for Russia’s National Guard, Rosgvardia, to join him or “things will go badly”.

The most promising politician appeals to the National Guard with an offer that is better not refused. Obeying criminal orders and attempting to interfere with the planned campaign of Justice will end badly for employees who have made the wrong choice.

UPDATE 2113 GMT:

Russian State TV is now reporting on the declaration of rebellion by the Wagner Group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin against Russia’s military leadership.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has issued a statement on Twitter.

UPDATE 2104 GMT:

BBC Russia reports that the Russian State security service FSB and National Guard special forces have set up roadblocks around Moscow.

Security forces are on “high alert”, and the “fortress plan” to protect government buildings has been activated.

UPDATE 2047 GMT:

Russia’s State security service FSB has opened a criminal case against Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin over his declaration of war against Moscow’s military leadership.

Prigozhin is being accused of inciting an armed rebellion.

The Wagner leader has refused to back down:

All patriots of Russia, true patriots of the country, go out into the streets, we will find weapons.

This night we will solve the issue of traitors and criminals who disgraced Russia. Their names are [Defense Minister Sergey] Shoygu, [invasion commander Maj. Gen. Valery] Gerasimov.

The leader of the anti-Kremlin Russian Volunteer Corps (RDF), Denis Nikitin, has supported Prigozhin as “a real Russian patriot, without irony” in his “attempt to overthrow the Russian military”.

The RDF and the Freedom of Russia Legion, linked with the Ukraine military, have carried out a series of raids inside Russia’s Belgorod region in the past month.

UPDATE 2023 GMT:

The feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries, and Russia’s military leadership is now an internal war.

Culminating a series of attacking messages this week, Prigozhin said in audios on Friday night that he will take “revenge” against the Russian Defense Ministry and commanders.

Prigozhin claimed that a Russian rocket attack killed scores of his fighters. He declared:

Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped.

Those, who destroyed today our guys, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist.

Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads.

I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland.

Wagner’s mercenaries and recruited ex-convicts were used by Russia since November in the year-long assault to seize Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine — a task achieved last month, only for Ukraine to regain territory to the north and south of the city.

During the last weeks of the operation, Prigozhin stepped up his criticism of the Defense Ministry, claiming his fighters were being starved of weapons and ammunition.

The feud was not assuaged by “victory” in Bakhmut, with Prigozhin saying the mercenaries would withdraw and subsequently claiming that Russian conventional units fired on his men as they pulled out. He declared that a “monstrous bureaucracy” was undermining his force.

This week Prigozhin has assailed Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu; the commander of the invasion, Maj. Gen. Valery Gerasimov; and Russian officials for lying to Vladimir Putin and Russia’s people about the Ukraine counter-offensive.

He said Moscow was lying with its claims of heavy Ukrainian losses, and declared that if leadership was not changed, Russia as well as the invasion would be lost.

He said on Friday, “We are 25,000 [fighters], and we are going to figure out why the chaos is happening in the country. Anyone who wants should join. We need to end this mess.”

At the same time, he claimed that his rebellion will not affect Russia’s defenses in Ukraine: “This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not hinder the armed forces in any way.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “President Putin has been briefed on all events around Prigozhin. The necessary measures are being taken.”

Earlier, the Defense Ministry denied any attack on the mercenaries.

All the messages and video footage distributed on social networks on behalf of E Prigozhin about the alleged “strike by the RF Ministry of Defense on the rear camps of PMC Wagner” do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation.

UPDATE 1742 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pledged action on inadequate shelters and corruption after a meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee.

The issue of shelters was highlighted on June 1 when a mother, her daughter, and another daughter were killed by falling drone debris during a Russian attack on Kyiv. The women were stranded outside a locked air raid shelter.

A subsequent comprehensive review found almost a quarter of shelters across Ukraine were locked or unusable.

Last month the chief justice of Ukraine’s Supreme Court was detained in a $2.7 million bribery investigation. Kyiv must also show progress in the fight against corruption as part of its campaign to join the European Union.

UPDATE 1719 GMT:

Ukraine’s budget revenues are up 45% in May compared to May 2022, says Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.

In 2023, we have much better financial results than a year ago. Thanks to strong financial support and comprehensive measures implemented by the government, we ensure a balanced budget and financing of critical expenditures, primarily in the social sphere.

Monetary and fiscal policies are under control.

UPDATE 1305 GMT:

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, says the main force for the counter-offensive against Russia has yet to be committed: “Everything is still ahead.”

Speaking from a military base in east Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, echoed Western officials on the challenge for the first phase of the counter-offensive (0855 GMT). Russian forces had anticipated where they were at most risk and launched their own offensive to try and divert Ukrainian units.

However, he said the hunt for a lethal weakness in Russian lines continues.

Echoing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he called for patience from those outside Ukraine.

Everyone wants to achieve a great victory instantly and at once. And so do we. But we have to be prepared to have this process take some time because there are a lot of forces massed on each side, a lot of materiel, and a lot of engineered obstacles.

I want to say that our main force has not been engaged in fighting yet, and we are now searching, probing for weak places in the enemy defenses.

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

The Russian Interior Ministry has placed Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala of the International Criminal Court on its wanted list.

Aitala’s “crime” was to issue the arrest warrant on March 17 for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s “Children’s Rights Commission” Maria Lvova-Belova, over Moscow’s deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian-occupied areas.

Russian propagandists say a wanted poster for Judge Aitala has been placed on a billboard near the Interior Ministry’s office in Moscow.

UPDATE 1141 GMT:

For the third day in a row, the head of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has blasted the Defense Ministry for “deceiving” Russians over Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

In a 30-minute video, Prigozhin also took apart the rationale for the Russian invasion, dismissing the claims that Ukraine was planning an offensive against Russian-controlled territories in the east in February 2022.

There was nothing extraordinary happening on the eve of February 24,” Prigozhin said. “The Defense Ministry is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole NATO bloc.

The special operation was started for a completely different reason.

Further pushing back Vladimir Putin, albeit not by name, Prigozhin said the Kremlin could have avoided the war by negotiating with Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiy.

UPDATE 0939 GMT:

At least two civilians have been killed and five injured in a Russian attack on a municipal transport company in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

One photo showed a dead man in the foreground and two trolley buses in the background. Others highlighted emergency workers attending to the wounded.

UPDATE 0925 GMT:

The European Union has adopted its 11th set of sanctions over Russia’s invasion.

Measures include export bans on those helping Moscow circumvent previous restrictions, restricting “the sale, supply, transfer or export of specified sanctioned goods and technology to certain third countries”.

The bloc will bar the use of tankers from other nations to carry Russian crude oil into EU ports. Importers of iron and steel goods will have to prove that raw materials, processed in a third country, are not of Russian origin.

The sanctions add 87 entities to the list of those directly supporting Russia’s military campaign. Export restrictions on advanced technology items have been imposed on China, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Syria, and Armenia.

UPDATE 0855 GMT:

“Two western officials and a senior US military official” say the early stage of Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making less progress than expected, with Russian forces showing more competence than assessments anticipated.

The officials noted Russian lines of defense have proved well-fortified. Russian forces had initial success slowing Ukrainian armor with missile attacks, mines, and effective deployment of airpower.

One official added, “The weather has been playing havoc with the offensive schedule as vehicles have struggled with trafficability. Ukrainian casualties are heavy, though not as bad as the Russia’s are trying to portray.”All of the sources said the US and allies “remain optimistic” about the counter-offensive. Ukrainian forces are adapting to the defenses, with more dismounted operations, and have had more success targeting and shooting down Russian warplanes.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted on Wednesday that advance was more “slowly than desired” for some observers, “Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not”.

However, amplifying the caution of Ukrainian officials before the start of the counter-offensive that it would be a long process of liberation, the President said, “We would definitely like to make bigger steps. But nevertheless, those who fight shall win and to those that knock, the door shall be opened.”

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday that forces have halted a Russian offensive trying to advance in the east: “We had very fierce battles in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions, but our soldiers stopped the enemy there.”

Ukrainian officials say the Russians were attacking in the east in an attempt to draw Kyiv’s troops away from their counter-offensive assaults.

Maliar said the Ukrainian advance continues in the south.

We still have the main events ahead of us. And the main blow is still to come. Indeed, some of the reserves — these are staged things — will be activated later.

UPDATE 0636 GMT:

Russian shelling has killed at least two civilians in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

The victims were a 55-year-old man from Mala Tokmachka and a 70-year-old resident of Huliaipole.

Russian fired 98 times at 24 settlements in Zaporizhzhia over 24 hours, said Yurii Malashko, head of the Ukrainian regional military administration. More than two dozen civilian structures were destroyed or damaged, including houses, outbuildings, and other property.

UPDATE 0553 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 13 Russian cruise missiles targeting the Viysk military airfield in the Khmelnitskyi region in the west of the country.

The missiles were launched early Friday by Tu-95 bombers from the Caspian Sea.

UPDATE 0545 GMT:

The UN has added Russia to a global list of offenders against children, citing its killing of 136 juveniles in Ukraine in 2022.

Secretary-General António Guterres said in a report to the Security Council that the UN had verified Russia’s maiming of 518 children and 480 attacks on schools and hospitals. Russian armed forces also used 91 children as human shields.

The report also said Ukraine’s armed forces killed 80 children, maimed 175, and carried out 212 attacks on schools and hospitals. Kyiv has not been put on the global offenders list.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Russia could release radiation at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the south of the country.

Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian intelligence agencies have received information of a possible Russian “terrorist attack” at the complex, whose six reactors make it the largest in Europe.

The President linked the possibility to the June 6 demolition of the Nova Kakhovka Dam, with the subsequent mass flooding of the neighboring Kherson region. He cited “new evidence of how Russian terrorists blew up the dam and other structures of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant” — “an absolutely deliberate, premeditated crime”.

See also Ukraine War, Day 481: Russia Blew Up Nova Kakhovka Dam and Then Blocked Humanitarian Aid — Reports

He said the intelligence about Zaporizhzhia is being shared with international partners.

Later, in his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy said Kyiv had briefed representatives of the G7 and G20 countries and international organizations.

“Our principle is simple: the world must know what the occupier is preparing. Everyone who knows must act,” he emphasized.

IAEA: Mines Previously Placed at Nuclear Plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that no mines were spotted during last week’s visit by Director Rafael Grossi to the facility.

But the IAEA added:

However, the IAEA is aware of previous placement of mines outside the plant perimeter, which the Agency has previously reported, and also at particular places inside – which security personnel at the plant explained were for defensive purposes.

Grossi said that the safety and security situation is “extremely fragile” and that the placement of any explosive devices at the complex “is not in line with safety standards.”

The Director General, who is due in Moscow on Friday for discussions, added, “We are following the issue with great attention.”

The loss of the Kakhovka reservoir was a catastrophe for the region as a whole and has also added to the severe difficulties for this major nuclear power plant. Now more than ever, all sides must fully adhere to the IAEA’s basic principles designed to prevent a nuclear accident. We will intensify our efforts to help ensure nuclear safety and security, while also providing assistance to the affected region in other ways.