June 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

This photograph shows a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, after a missile strike hit it on June 27, 2023. 

The death toll from Tuesday’s attack on the eastern city of Kramatorsk has risen to 11, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Telegram Wednesday.

The Ukrainian Security Service said it detained a man who allegedly scouted a Kramatorsk pizzeria in the city’s center and sent a video of the site to the Russian Armed Forces prior to the strike Tuesday.

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

What Russia says: The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the target hit in the strike was actually a temporary command post of the Ukrainian army unit. 

A border fence between Norway and Russia won’t just prevent human border crossings — it’ll stop reindeer in their tracks too, the Nordic country hopes.

Norway — one of the few NATO countries sharing a land border with Russia — will begin replacing parts of the 70-year-old reindeer fence that runs along the far-north border, said HT Gjerde Finnmark, the fence installer commissioned to carry out the works, in a statement Wednesday.

The installer, on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture, announced it will begin replacing sections of the 196-kilometer (122-mile) border fence in mid-July.

The project will be “extra demanding” given “the current geopolitical situation,” said the chairman of HT Gjerde Finnmark, Kjell Magne Grønnli, adding, “It is very important that we do not cross the border into Russia at any time during the work.”  

Grønnli added that while “the fence will still have no border function,” it will be important in preventing “reindeer herds from entering Russia, which we know can create challenges for the owners.”

A European intelligence official told CNN there were “hints” the Russian security services or military might have had prior knowledge of the armed rebellion in Russia this weekend and might have wanted it to succeed.

A European intelligence official, who did not want to be named discussing sensitive information, said: “They might have known, and might have not told about it, and known and decided to help it succeed. There are some hints. There might have been prior knowledge. What happened made Putin lose prestige. If that is what factions wanted, then that is what they got.”

Asked if General Sergey Surovikin had advanced knowledge of the plot, as reported by the New York Times, or if Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin intended to capture Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or chief of staff Valery Gerasmiov, as reported by the WSJ, the official said: “There is a lot of fog still. That would be speculation. Time will tell what exactly [Prigozhin’s] reasons were.”

The official would not comment if Prigozhin is in Belarus. “We still do not know everything that was in the deal Lukashenko brokered,” the official added, saying this would determine how potent a force Prigozhin remained.

The official added that any impact on the front lines in Ukraine would likely not be felt in the next few days, but might take longer.

Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, addresses a press conference at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Foreign Ministers Meeting on June 1, 2023, in Cape Town.

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

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

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

The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, is pictured during an interview with CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour.

The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that the failed Wagner 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 on Tuesday, said the events of recent days had “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Russian Army…it’s 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 has finally failed. I think it’s a very strong signal that the war in Ukraine is terrible, barbaric, illegal invasion,” Yermak said. 

He also said, “Everything which has happened in Russia [these] last days is the result of this war,” adding, “I think after this even, more people in the world are sure about Ukrainian victory.” 

Ukraine’s leadership says they have made gains “on all fronts” since the weekend.

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

Yermak said, “These last days they were confirmed that they don’t control the situation, they are not living in reality, and of course they can’t make the real decisions.” He also said he thought “we all over the world are seeing this show…I think it will have historical and very serious influence for everything which will be in the future.”

President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 28.

President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has “absolutely” been weakened by the short-lived mutiny over the weekend.

It was his most definitive comment to date on how the rebellion by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin affected the Russian leader’s stature.

Biden and his team have been cautious in commenting on the events, wary of providing Putin pretext for claiming a western plot to oust him.

In his first public remarks on Monday, he insisted that the West had nothing to do with the mutiny.

But on Wednesday, Biden expanded on his views of Putin’s diminished stature.

“It’s hard to tell but he’s clearly losing the war,” Biden said.

 Asked again if Putin is weaker today than he was last week, Biden said: “I know he is.”

Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks inside the headquarters of the Russian southern army military command center in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in a screengrab taken from a video released on June 24.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to seize two of Russia top military officials when he launched a short-lived mutiny on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Western officials.

Prigozhin’s plot involved the capture of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top army general Valery Gerasimov when the pair visited a region along the border of Ukraine, according to the WSJ.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) learned of the plot two days before it was due to take place, forcing Prigozhin to change his plans at the last minute and launch a march towards Moscow instead, according to the report. 

Wagner mercenaries took control of a key military base in the city of Rostov-on-Don, and his troops were approaching the Russian capital when Prigozhin called off his mutiny.

When asked about the WSJ report, two European security sources told CNN that while it was likely Prigozhin would have expressed a desire to capture Russian military leaders, there was no assessment as to whether he had a credible plan to do so.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the target hit in Tuesday’s missile strike in Kramatorsk was actually a temporary command post of the Ukrainian army unit. Ukrainian authorities say the strike hit a pizza restaurant, killing at least 10 people.

“In the city of Kramatorsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit,” according to the Russian daily defense ministry statement.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service said it has detained a man who allegedly scouted the Kramatorsk pizzeria and sent a video to the Russian Armed Forces prior to the strike.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also reiterated the claim that Russia does not strike at civilian infrastructure and are only carried out on places connected with military infrastructure.

The Russian defense ministry added that the Russian Air Force carried out strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukrainian oil refining and fuel storage facilities that supply the Ukraine Armed Forces in the eastern Donbas region.

According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukrainian head of Dontesk region military administration, Russia attacked using Iskander missiles. The strike damaged 32 buildings, he added.

CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv contributed reporting to this post.

Switzerland’s Federal Council rejected a request on Wednesday from defense firm RUAG concerning the export of 96 Leopard 1 A5 tanks destined for Ukraine, “as it is inconsistent with applicable law,” according to a statement by the government. 

On Tuesday, RUAG submitted an export request for the resale of 96 used and non-operational Leopard 1 A5 tanks, according to the government.

“The tanks are currently in storage in Italy and would require refurbishment in Germany before being re-exported to Ukraine,” the government statement said. 

Key background: Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, with its legal framework ensuring it does not send weapons directly or indirectly to belligerent states. Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, the country has faced increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve the re-exportation of weapons to Ukraine.

Switzerland did, however, break its neutrality status quo shortly after the war began by adopting European Union sanctions in March 2022. 

CNN’s Inke Kappeler and Jessie Gretener contributed reporting to this post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Beijing on June 19.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China’s position on the war in Ukraine is likely “getting more and more challenging” for Beijing to maintain.

Blinken noted that Russia’s war had come up in his conversations while in Beijing last week, and “we agreed that it’s something that we need to keep talking about.”

“There may come a point, if there is an opening for genuine diplomacy and negotiation, where China can play a positive and productive role. That’s still, alas, I think far in the future. But I think some of the tensions between the dual roles that China is trying to play are more and more apparent,” Blinken said. 

Some background: China voiced support for Russia after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived insurrection.

“As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an online statement.

China has refused to condemn the invasion and instead provided much-needed diplomatic and economic support for Russia, a position that has further soured its relations with Western nations, especially in Europe.

Head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin is pictured in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.

Wagner chief Yevegny Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion was “a direct challenge to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s authority,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. 

Blinken called the short-lived revolt “fundamentally an internal matter that the Russians and Putin are going to have to reckon with,” but suggested that the “cracks” inside Moscow were not a secret. 

“You see dissension in the ranks, and it’s not as if you need a satellite to figure that out,” he said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

The top US diplomat said that questions of Russian leadership “are choices for Russians to make, not for us to make.” He reiterated that the United States is focused instead on its support for Ukraine.

Affect on Ukraine: Blinken said the aftermath of the rebellion could be beneficial to Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

“To the extent that Moscow is distracted by its own internal divisions, that may help,” he said.

“I think there’s some opportunity here, but it is early days, and I think this will play out not over the next days, but over the next weeks and months,” he said.

Switzerland is expanding its sanctions on Russia to be in line with the latest round of sanctions by the European Union, Switzerland’s government said in a statement Wednesday. 

The expanded sanctions will come into effect at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) Wednesday and will target individuals and organizations that support the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, as well as Russian officials, members of the military and members of the Wagner group. 

On June 23, the EU imposed financial and travel sanctions on an additional 71 individuals and 33 entities. The assets of those individuals and entities in Switzerland will be frozen, and the individuals concerned will be prohibited from entering or transiting Switzerland, the government said. 

“Following today’s amendments, Switzerland’s sanctions list in connection with Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine corresponds to that of the EU,” the government said. 

Some context: Back during the beginning of the war in February 2022, Switzerland announced that it would forego its commitment to traditional “Swiss neutrality” in favor of adopting sanctions against Russia.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hold a press conference at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 28.

European allies must boost their defense readiness against both Russian and Belarus, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Wednesday during a joint news conference with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Brussels.

When asked whether Wagner mercenaries in Belarus pose a risk to Estonia, Kallas said, “We have been considering Belarus as a co-aggressor here. So they have been working together with Russia all the time. So what we know about Russia and Belarus is that they are unpredictable, and they are dangerous. And that hasn’t changed.”

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday, and satellite imagery shows two planes linked to Prigozhin landed at a Belarusian airbase outside the country’s capital on Tuesday morning. Lukashenko also said yesterday that most of the tactical nuclear weapons Russia plans to station in Belarus have already arrived. 

Kallas said Estonia is committed to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine and that Russian leaders must be held accountable for their actions.

“Ukraine is the victim of Russian war. And according to the international law, it must be compensated by Russia; we need a solution that would allow to use the frozen assets which have been seized with sanctions from Russian citizens and companies to compensate the damages. My government is also working with a legal draft to do this, but we need a European solution,” she said. 

Speaking alongside Kallas, Metsola said international loopholes need to be closed and sanctions on Russia increased.

“We welcome the 11th package of sanctions the additional 50 billion euros in support for reconstruction announced last week and we finally need to advance on using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction,” Metsola said. 

She also said the attempted Wagner rebellion in Russia raises questions about the “fragility of the Russian state.”

“The latest events in Russia have raised a number of questions relating to the internal dynamics and fragility of the Russian state, its effect on the invasion of Ukraine and for European security,” Metsola said. “So for the EU, the most important thing is to stay the course; we cannot be distracted by Kremlin politics and we need to continue with, and keep stepping up our support for Ukraine in this context.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that Wagner had been offered the use of some the country’s abandoned land following its short-lived rebellion but denied building camps on Belarusian territory for the mercenary group.

“We are not building any camps yet. But if they want, we will accommodate them. Set up tents, please. But for now they are in Luhansk (in eastern Ukraine) in their camps,” Lukashenko said.

Wagner troops remain in Ukraine after the weekend mutiny, the US Defense Department said Tuesday.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder declined to speculate Tuesday on Wagner forces’ “specific disposition and whether they may or may not move (or) be moving.”

Read more here.

General Sergey Surovikin is pictured in a screengrab taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, in November 2022.

The Kremlin has dismissed a report in the New York Times about a Russian general allegedly knowing in advance about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to attempt a mutiny in Russia over the weekend, calling the story “speculation and rumors.”

The New York Times reported that United States officials are trying to learn if Gen. Sergey Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped to plan Prigozhin’s armed rebellion in Russia last weekend.

Surovikin was replaced in January by General Valery Gerasimov – who has been among the members of Russia’s top military brass lambasted by Prigozhin for making “mistakes” during the invasion of Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that Prigozhin’s decision to launch a mutiny may have been influenced by his belief that he would receive support from senior military officials in Moscow.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied the report Wednesday.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the New York Times story.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has begun a visit to Kyiv.

The Polish presidency’s official Twitter account said he will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Discussions will include the current battlefield situation, Zaporizhzhia power plant security and the upcoming NATO summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Some background: Earlier this year, Zelensky visited Poland, a country that has taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees and led the way in urging NATO partners to send Kyiv more military supplies. In April, Poland became the first NATO nation to pledge fighter jets to Ukraine, sending four MiG-29 planes.

CNN’s Rob Picheta and Radina Gigova contributed reporting to this post.

People move through the rubble as search and rescue efforts continue, following a Russian missile strike that hit the Ria restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on June 27.

The Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, which killed at least 10 people and injured dozens, is another example of Russia’s use of terror on civilians, EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday. 

“This was a well-known meeting point for international press. Yet again, Russia continues to violate international law and commit war crimes,” he added.

The Ukrainian Security Service says it has detained a man who allegedly scouted the Kramatorsk pizzeria and sent a video of the site to the Russian Armed Forces prior to the strike Tuesday.

They described the man as a “Russian intelligence agent.”

“It has been established that the detained adjuster of the strike on Kramatorsk was an agent of the main department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (better known as GRU). On June 27, he was tasked with finding out whether the aforementioned cafe was open and recording visitors are present there.”

“Having received this information, Russian invaders fired on the cafe with people inside,” the Ukrainian Security Service alleges.

At least 10 people were killed in the strike on the Kramatorsk city center on Tuesday.

A man reacts as emergency responders and volunteers work to rescue people from under the rubble, after a missile strike hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on June 27.

Days after facing the greatest threat to his authority in 23 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has struck back at Ukraine, launching a missile strike Tuesday on the busy center of Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.

But questions remain over the fallout from the chaos of the past weekend. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was in Belarus. But where exactly is he? How many Wagner mercenaries will join him? Where will they live? And how is Putin managing the situation at home?

Here are the latest developments:

Shelling in the Kharkiv region near the Russian border killed three civilians on Wednesday, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration said.

Oleh Syniehubov said the victims are three men aged 45, 48 and 57. They were killed near their houses in the Ukrainian village of Vovchanski Khutory, according to Syniehubov.

The city of Kharkiv was occupied by Russia in the early days of the war before being liberated by the Ukrainians in September. But there has been an uptick in fighting along the border between the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions in recent weeks, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials.

Search and rescue efforts continue after a Russian missile struck Kramatorsk's busy city center on June 27, in Ukraine.

The death toll from Russia’s missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday has risen to 10, including three children, the Ukrainian national police said on Telegram.

There were 61 people injured, police said.

Among those killed was a 17-year-old girl and twin sisters aged 14, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.

The missile strike targeted Kramatorsk’s busy city center Tuesday evening, hitting an area lined with apartment buildings, stores and cars, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Lithuania is donating two surface-to-air missile defence systems to Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced during a visit to the capital Kyiv on Wednesday.

The Norwegian-manufactured NASAMS missiles will be delivered to Ukraine soon to “expand the operational capability of the NASAMS systems already in use in Ukraine,” according to a statement from the Lithuanian president.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the donation from Lithuania will help protect “Ukraine’s sky” and save lives. 

Swedish authorities approved a Quran burning demonstration outside of a mosque in the center of Stockholm on Wednesday. The burning will coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar.

The decision to allow such an inflammatory protest may threaten Sweden’s chances of joining NATO, due to objections from Turkey.

NATO officials are in a race against time to avoid the embarrassment of seeing the alliance miss its own stated aim of admitting Sweden to the alliance by July 11 – the date of its next official summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Officials fear that missing this deadline will send a humiliating and potentially dangerous message to the alliance’s adversaries.

Turkey – a strategically important NATO member due to its geographical location in both the Middle East and Europe, and the alliance’s second-largest military power – has proven the greatest obstacle to Sweden’s NATO accession.

Key context: Earlier this year, Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow following a rally outside Stockholm’s Turkish Embassy during which an anti-immigration politician set a copy of the Quran alight.

The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.

At the time, the then Turkish foreign minister reportedly blamed the Swedish government, saying it had “taken part in this crime by allowing this vile act” to go ahead, according to state news agency Anadolu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks down the steps to address members of security services at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on June 27.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin values loyalty above all else,” Dmitri Alperovitch, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, told CNN. “You can steal under him, you can kill, you can be a criminal. But the one thing you cannot be is disloyal.”

It is hard to conceive of a more flagrant display of disloyalty than Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s abortive mutiny last weekend. In a bizarre and chaotic 36 hours, Prigozhin drove 800 miles from the border of Ukraine towards Moscow, captured a regional military command, stormed a large city, and claimed to have shot down a military helicopter.

Many expected Putin’s response to be swift and brutal. In a seething national address on Saturday, when Prigozhin’s mutiny was in full swing, he said that Wagner’s “treachery” was a “betrayal” of their country, and promised to hold the insurgents “accountable.”

Why, then, was Prigozhin allowed to flee to Belarus? And why have the insurgents not been punished?

According to Kirill Shamiev, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Putin’s first priority will be to “demilitarize, disarm and demobilize the Wagner group,” before issuing any potential punishment.

Putin is currently engaged in a balancing act. His instinct may have been to respond swiftly, to demonstrate that mutiny won’t be tolerated and to project an image of strength. But if he moves too quickly, he risks stirring up another rebellion – and of giving the impression of panic.

“If you react too swiftly, it can show the elites that you’re scared,” said Shamiev. Paradoxically, taking the “strongman” approach can instead reveal weakness.

Read the full analysis here.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, speaks alongside leaders of NATO countries at a press conference in The Hague, on June 27.

NATO has increased its preparedness and military presence along the eastern front of the alliance – where its member states share borders with Russia and Belarus – Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.

Stoltenberg reiterated that “we must not underestimate Russia, so it’s even more important that we continue to provide Ukraine with our support.”

The NATO chief also said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine had deepened divisions within Moscow.

Speaking alongside Stoltenberg, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said the possible deployment of fighters from the Wagner mercenary group to Belarus could increase the risk of “instability” in the region.

“Last Saturday, we all have seen the mutiny of the Wagner group in Russia. If Wagner deploys its serial killers in Belarus, all neighboring countries face even greater danger of instability. Under such circumstances, deterrence and forward defense is a top priority,” Nauseda said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who also spoke at the press conference, said the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus would be “concerning” and requires a “very tough answer” from NATO.

Stoltenberg said earlier Tuesday that he wanted to send a clear message to Moscow and Minsk that “NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory.” The growing alliance between Belarus and Russia is causing some consternation among Western officials.

Twin sisters Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko were killed in a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday. A handout photo from Kramatorsk City Council shows the two smiling teenagers holding up a sign which reads “School No 24, 8B class, 60thanniversary.”

Teenage twin sisters were among those killed in a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, the local city council confirmed.

Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko, who were 14 years old, had graduated from 8th grade and would have celebrated their 15th birthdays in September, the Kramatorsk City Council said on Telegram Wednesday. 

The death toll in the strike has risen to nine, including three children, as rescuers continue to sift through rubble, the Ukrainian state emergency service said Wednesday.

Gitanas Nauseda talks to reporters in The Hague, Netherlands on June 27.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit Wednesday, the Lithuanian Embassy in Ukraine said.

Nauseda will visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and take part in an event commemorating the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the Ukrainian constitution, the embassy said in a Twitter post.

Rescues and volunteers work at the site of hotel and restaurant buildings heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, in central Kramatorsk, Ukraine on June 27.

As rescuers sift through rubble at the scene of Tuesday’s missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the death toll from that attack has risen to eight, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said Wednesday.

Ukrainian officials previously reported four deaths.

At least 56 others were injured in the strike, including an infant, the emergency service said.

A Russian missile struck Kramatorsk’s busy city center Tuesday evening, Ukrainian authorities said. The missile struck an area lined with apartment buildings, stores and cars, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said. Restaurants in the targeted plaza are popular gathering spots for residents and military personnel.

“The rescuers are dismantling the rubble of the ruined building and searching for people who possibly remain under the rubble,” the emergency service said.

Vladimir Putin arrives for a meeting, in Moscow, Russia on June 27.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday alluded to a potential probe into claims that billions of rubles of state funds were spent on Wagner, saying “we” will “deal with that.”

In an address to security personnel in Moscow, Putin claimed the mercenary group had been completely funded by the Russian state, with 86 billion rubles (about $1 billion) funneled to the group in the past 12 months. Putin also claimed the Concord company, owned by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, received 80 billion rubles from Moscow for supplying food and providing food services.

The shadowy Wagner force had long served Moscow’s interests, advancing Putin’s foreign policy and influence, particularly in Africa.

Some of Prigozhin’s operations appeared to be partly self-funded, with various shell companies staking claims to oil and gas facilities and vying for access to gold and other riches.

In February, the European Union sanctioned a Russian national and a Wagner subsidiary in Sudan, Meroe Gold, for facilitating the exploitation of Sudan’s gold wealth, after a CNN investigation into the group’s activities last July.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on four companies and one person tied to Wagner that “have engaged in illicit gold dealings to fund the Wagner Group to sustain and expand its armed forces, including in Ukraine and Africa.”

This still image taken from a video released on June 24 shows Yevgeny Prigozhin speaking in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday talked up his role in halting Wagner’s insurrection in Russia, and said the mercenary group’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus as part of the deal to end the brief rebellion.

Two planes linked to Prigozhin landed at an airbase near Minsk Tuesday morning, according to satellite images — though his exact whereabouts remain unknown.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, at least four people were killed and dozens of others injured after Russian missiles struck Kramatorsk on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “a manifestation of terror.”

Here’s what else you should know:

Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference in Pabrade, Lithuania, on June 26.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a clear message was sent to Moscow and Minsk that “NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory.”

Stoltenberg made the remarks at a joint news conference at The Hague on Tuesday, alongside the leaders of seven NATO countries.

The NATO chief said the alliance is ready to defend members against Russia and Belarus, and that the events involving the Wagner rebellion were “internal Russian matters.” 

When asked by journalists about any security issues that may come up with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his forces being transferred to Belarus, all officials stated that it is too early to make any final judgments. 

A view shows restaurant and hotel buildings heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in central Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 27.

Russian missiles struck the busy city center of the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and a nearby village on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, Ukrainian officials said.

A 17-year-old girl was among those killed, and an 8-month-old baby was among the 47 injured, according to Ukrainian officials.

The attack quickly prompted accusations that Russian forces had targeted civilians.

Restaurants in the targeted plaza are popular with Kramatorsk residents and with the military; RIA Pizza, one of the establishments, is often frequented by soldiers and journalists.

An eyewitness to the aftermath of the strike in Kramatorsk city described up to a dozen people being pulled from the rubble. It was not clear if these people were dead or alive, the man told CNN teams on the ground.

A Ukrainian soldier assisting rescue efforts told CNN that the victims he saw were “mostly young people, military and civilians; there are small children.”

The soldier, who asked to be identified only by the call sign Alex, said there had been a banquet for 45 people at one of the restaurants when the strike occurred, and that it hit “right in the center of the cafe.”

Read more here.

Alexander Lukashenko delivers a speech in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko claims he convinced Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, talking up his role in halting the mercenaries’ military insurrection that caused crisis in Russia at the weekend.

Lukashenko on Tuesday described his view of the negotiations that led to Prigozhin ending his march towards Moscow, and said the oligarch is now in Belarus per the deal.

“The most dangerous thing, as I understand it, is not what the situation was, but how it could develop and its consequences,” Lukashenko said, according to Belarussian state media.

Lukashenko — a longtime ally of the Russian President — said Putin told him: “Listen, Alex, it’s useless. (Prigozhin) doesn’t even pick up the phone, he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”

But Lukashenko said he managed to get hold of the Wagner boss and, according to his account, warned he would be “crushed like a bug” if Wagner troops continued their advance to the Russian capital.

The Kremlin has credited Lukashenko with helping to deescalate the situation, though the Belarus leader’s account of events has not been corroborated by Putin or Prigozhin.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenko was able to draw on a personal relationship with Prigozhin to reach the deal, which would also see Wagner troops and equipment absorbed by the Russian military.

Read more here.

Two planes linked to Wagner CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin landed at a Belarusian airbase outside the country’s capital on Tuesday morning, according to a satellite image from BlackSky. 

Prigozhin’s exact whereabouts are still unknown. He hasn’t been seen in any videos or photos since he left the Rostov-on-Don military headquarters Saturday evening. 

However, Belarusian state media quoted Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday, saying that Prigozhin is in Belarus.

The satellite image taken Tuesday morning by BlackSky shows the two planes — with serial numbers RA-20795 and RA-02878 — sitting on the tarmac at Machulishchy Airbase, just outside Minsk. Additional satellite imagery from BlackSky, as well as CNN’s analysis of the planes’ measurements, confirmed the planes arrived within the last 24 hours and matched the dimensions of the Prigozhin-linked planes.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 indicated that the planes landed near Minsk at around 8 a.m. local time. Both planes had their transponders turned off before landing, obscuring their exact landing location. 

Two sources — a senior European intelligence official and a source familiar with Prigozhin’s planes — confirmed to CNN the planes are linked to the Wagner boss but did not know if Prigozhin was on board.

The movement of Prigozhin’s planes has been closely watched in the aftermath of his attempted insurrection over the weekend.  

US Department of the Treasury building is seen in Washington, DC, on May 17.

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four companies involved in “gold dealing” and one person they say made “weapons deals” tied to the Wagner Group.

The announcement of the sanctions comes days after the short-lived mutiny led by the head of the mercenary group’s leader, Yevegny Prigozhin.

They target companies in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Central African Republic that “have engaged in illicit gold dealings to fund the Wagner Group to sustain and expand its armed forces, including in Ukraine and Africa.”

The targeted individual, Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, is a Russian executive in the Wagner Group who “worked closely with Prigozhin’s entity Africa Politology and senior Malian government officials on weapons deals, mining concerns, and other Wagner Group activities in Mali,” according to a Treasury Department release.

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Antony Blinken speaks in Washington, DC on June 23.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $500 million security assistance package for Ukraine Tuesday.

According to a statement, the package includes:

It marks the 41st drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, according to the department.

“The enduring courage and solidarity of the people of Ukraine continues to inspire the world. Russia started this unprovoked war against Ukraine,” Blinken said in his statement.

Blinken went on to reaffirm US commitment to Ukraine.