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Head of MI6 says Putin ‘clearly under pressure’ after Wagner Group uprising
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President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused Nato member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said any aggression against Russia‘s neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia.
Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a loose “Union State” with Russia, “with all the means at our disposal”, Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in televised remarks.
Warsaw’s Security Committee decided on Wednesday to move military units to eastern Poland after members of the Russian Wagner mercenary force arrived in Belarus, the state-run news agency PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday.
On Wednesday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part for now in the war in Ukraine but ordering them to gather strength for Africa while they trained the Belarusian army.
It comes as US-supplied cluster bombs are now being deployed by Ukraine in the battle against Russia, according to the White House.
Recommended Ukraine ambassador to UK grilled by Kyiv after criticising Zelensky in Amazon row Two wounded and buildings damaged as Odesa pounded by third night of Russian air strikes Wagner mercenaries training Belarus special forces just miles from border with Nato-member Poland
Key Points Putin gives chilling warning to Poland as Moscow ready to defend Belarus Ukraine using US cluster bombs ‘effectively,’ White House says Putin buying time to strike back Wagner group leader, says CIA chief Russia restricts movements of British diplomats in response to 'hostile actions' Russian navy conducts live fire exercise in Black Sea
Show latest update 1689973791 Recap: White House says cluster bombs are having an impact in war
The White House has defended supplying controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine, saying that they are having an impact in the counteroffensive against Russia.
National security spokesperson John Kirby said: “We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians and they’ve using them quite effectively.”
He said that the bombs were having an impact on Russian defensive formations and manoeuvring.
President Biden has described the decision to supply the munition as “very difficult”, acknowledging that they kill civilians.
(Getty Images)
Holly Bancroft 21 July 2023 22:09
1689969707 Putin makes aggressive remarks about ‘defending Belarus'
Putin has said that Russia will use “all means at its disposal” to defend Belarus and claimed without evidence that Poland was seeking to invade the country.
Mr Putin made the aggressive comments during a meeting of his security council on Friday, The Guardian reported.
Mercenaries from the Wagner group are running training sessions for Belarusian troops near the border with Poland.
Poland’s security committee has said that it would move troops to the east of the country in response to the exercises.
Mr Putin said: “Unleashing agression against Belarus would mean aggression against the Russian Federation. And we will respond to it using all means at our disposal.”
(SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Holly Bancroft 21 July 2023 21:01
1689966591 Russian pro-war Putin critic Igor Girkin facing charges of inciting extremism
A prominent Russian hardline nationalist who has accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in Ukraine has been detained on charges of extremism.
The move suggests authorities have wearied of former FSB agent and battlefield commander Igor Girkin’s criticism of Moscow’s invasion, and perhaps that of other loud nationalist voices who had appeared to have exceptional licence to deride the Kremlin and the military.
It follows an abortive mutiny last month led by another outspoken critic, Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of the Wagner mercenary force, who is still free but has sharply curtailed his own verbal attacks.
Read the full story here:
Pro-war Putin critic Igor Girkin facing charges of inciting extremism in Russia FSB agents come to Mr Girkin’s home and escort him away and he is to be held in custody until September
Holly Bancroft 21 July 2023 20:09
1689962454 Ukraine MoD calls Russians ‘terrorists'
Ukraine’s ministry of defence has taken to Twitter to call out Russian insurgents as “terrorists”.
“Russian terrorists want to become exemplary in the way they destroy life.
“We will become exemplary in the way we protect life and in the way life then responds - justly and inevitably - to every blow inflicted to every terrorist.”
William Mata 21 July 2023 19:00
1689959559 ‘A war on healthcare'
The British Ministry of Defence has tweeted an alert of the ‘war on healthcare’.
The account released an update on Friday afternoon to state: “Since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have been attacking hospitals, healthcare facilities & healthcare workers, contrary to international humanitarian law.”
William Mata 21 July 2023 18:12
1689955094 Ukraine and Russia: Pictures from Friday, July 21
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Security Council via a video link in Moscow
(via REUTERS)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin speaks to the media at a briefing in Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia
(AP)
Handout photo issued by the Royal Navy of their divers, bomb disposal and mine warfare experts who have been training their Ukrainian counterparts on the waters of Loch Ewe
(PA)
A view shows a grain warehouse destroyed by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine
(via REUTERS)
William Mata 21 July 2023 16:58
1689954216 Putin tells Poland any aggression against Belarus is attack on Russia
President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused NATO member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said any aggression against Russia’s neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia.
Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a loose “Union State” with Russia, “with all the means at our disposal”, Mr Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in televised remarks.
Warsaw’s Security Committee decided on Wednesday to move military units to eastern Poland after members of the Russian Wagner mercenary force arrived in Belarus, the state-run news agency PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday.
Vladimir Putin
(SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Reuters 21 July 2023 16:43
1689953033 Russia targets Ukraine's farm storage sites after days of hitting Black Sea port facilities
Russia followed its withdrawal from a grain export deal by expanding its attacks from port infrastructure to farm storage buildings in Ukraine's Odesa region on Friday, while also practicing a Black Sea blockade.
Other Russian missiles damaged what officials described only as an "important infrastructure facility" southwest of the port city of Odesa, in what appeared to be an effort to cripple Ukraine's food exports.
Attacks in recent days have put Odesa in Russia's crosshairs after Moscow abandoned a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain through the key Black Sea port.
AP` 21 July 2023 16:23
1689952590 Ukranian troops learn how to diffuse Russian bombs in Scottish training exercise
Ukrainian troops have been on exercises in Scotland learning how to disarm and defuse Russian bombs, booby traps and mines.
Royal Navy divers, bomb disposal specialists and mine warfare experts have been training their Ukrainian counterparts on finding and neutralising explosive devices in the north-west Highlands.
Specialist personnel from the Royal Navy’s Diving and Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) used the waters of Loch Ewe to pass on their knowledge and expertise to Ukrainian Navy divers, explosive ordnance disposal operators and personnel who work with uncrewed underwater vehicles.
Sailors from Delta Diving Unit 1 and DTXG’s operational support squadron delivered the training alongside Nato allies, building on the existing knowledge and skills of the Ukrainian expeditionary mine countermeasures team and helping them prepare for future operations.
The training ranged from clearing deep water shipping lanes to rendering shallow water and beaches safe for amphibious raids.
It also covered clearing ports, jetties and any other infrastructure from potential threats
Divers, bomb disposal and mine warfare experts who have been training their Ukrainian counterparts on the waters of Loch Ewe
(PA)
PA 21 July 2023 16:16
1689950457 Arrested pro-war Kremlin critic Girkin charged with incitement to extremism - Russian agencies
Prosecutors from Russia’s FSB federal security service on Friday asked a Moscow court to remand prominent nationalist Kremlin critic Igor Girkin in detention on a charge of inciting extremist activity, Russian state news agencies reported.
Girkin faces up to five years in prison if convicted, the TASS and RIA agencies said.
Kremlin critic Igor Girkin
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Reuters 21 July 2023 15:40
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1/ 1Russia-Ukraine: Putin gives chilling warning to Poland
Russia-Ukraine: Putin gives chilling warning to Poland
Then-businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, shows Russian president Vladimir Putin around his factory in Sept 2010
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