Ukraine-Russia war latest: Wagner chief Prigozhin claims his troops won’t fight in Putin’s war ‘for now’

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his Wagner fighters to Belarus and telling them they would for now take no further part in the Ukraine war.

In the video, the authenticity of which Reuters could not immediately verify, a man whose voice and Russian sounded like Prigozhin’s is heard welcoming his men. The video was reposted by his press service on Telegram.

“Welcome lads… Welcome to Belarusian soil,” Prigozhin said. The video was shot after night had fallen and it was only possible to discern what looked like Prigozhin’s profile.

“We fought honourably,” said Prigozhin. “You have done a great deal for Russia. What is going on at the front is a disgrace that we do not need to get involved in.”

Prigozhin then tells his men to behave well towards the locals and orders them to train the Belarusian army and collect their strength for a “new journey to Africa.”

“And perhaps we will return to the SMO (special military operation in Ukraine) at some point when we are sure that we will not be forced to shame ourselves,” Prigozhin said.

A man who sounded like Dmitry Utkin, who helped found Wagner, then spoke to the men.

“This is not the end. This is just the beginning of the biggest work in the world that will be carried out very soon,” Utkin said, before switching to English. “And welcome to hell!”

Ukraine is setting up a temporary shipping route to maintain grain shipments after Russia quit a deal allowing Ukrainian exports via a UN-backed safe corridor in the Black Sea, Kyiv said on Wednesday.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea Odesa port for the second consecutive night on Tuesday after quitting the deal on Monday, which included Moscow revoking guarantees for safe navigation.

In an official letter letter dated July 18 submitted to UN shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Ukraine on Wednesday said it had “decided to establish on a temporary basis a recommended maritime route”.

“Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea,” Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine’s acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in the letter.

Ukraine added in the letter that it would establish shipping traffic routes close to the waters around Chornomorsk, Odesa, Pivdennyi, the three Ukrainian ports that were part of the corridor, leading up to the territorial waters and the exclusive maritime economic zone of Romania.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the Black Sea grain deal could continue without Russian participation, and Ukraine is working on options to keep its commitments on food supplies.

Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said an investigation is underway into an image of a drone downed in Ukraine which had a “Made In Ireland” stamp on it.

A post on Twitter shared the image and stated that the drone was shot down over the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, near the Black Sea.

Asked about the issue during a press conference in Kyiv, the Taoiseach said: “We are aware of that, and we are investigating it at the moment. We don’t believe any Irish companies have evaded sanctions, but there are third parties that find ways around the sanctions, and it’s really important that we crack down on that and we do take it very seriously.”

Former foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan called it “a matter of some concern”.

Under EU sanctions imposed on Russia, there is a ban on the sale, supply or export of drone engines and electronic components, along with other items, that may contribute to Moscow’s military or the development of its defence and security sector. The list of restricted items also includes toy drones and various technologies.

Vladimir Putin will not attend a summit in South Africa next month – allowing the hosts to avoid a decision whether or not to arrest the Russian leader thanks to an international warrant over war crime allegations.

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which issued the warrant, South Africa would be expected to detain Mr Putin once he sets foot in the country. Although it has refused to honor that obligation in the past, allowing safe passage to Sudan’s then-President Omar al-Bashir in 2015 who was facing allegations of war crimes against his own people.

Newly unsealed government documents reveal that Tony Blair received a chilling warning that Ukraine feared the West was nurturing too “rosy” a view of Vladimir Putin – two decades before Russia’s invasion.

At a time when the Labour prime minister argued that Mr Putin should be given a seat at the international “top table”, having been the first Western leader to visit him in Moscow, files now issued to the National Archives show that Ukrainian officials harboured eerily prescient concerns about the relationship.

In addition to revelations about Mr Blair’s fears over Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi – and admiring letters from Margaret Thatcher to the Labour prime minister – the documents show that Mr Blair was urged by aides not to snuff out Kyiv’s aspirations to join the EU, arguing that the presence of Ukraine within the alliance could form a “formidable barrier” to Russian imperialism.

A video purporting to show Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin welcoming his Wagner fighters to Belarus surfaced on Wednesday on one of his official Telegram channels.

In the video, the authenticity of which Reuters was unable to immediately verify, a man whose voice sounded like Prigozhin’s is heard welcoming his men, telling them to behave, and saying theie training will make the Belarusian army the second-best in the world.

The video was shot after night had fallen and it was only possible to discern what looked like Prigozhin’s profile.

He is heard saying that his men will stay in Belarus for some time and calling what is happening on the front line in Ukraine a “disgrace” that Wagner should not take part in.

The British army is trialling battery-powered bikes to gain a tactical advantage on the battlefield, following Ukraine’s example in its war against Russia.

During the early days of the invasion, Ukrainian troops attacked Russian tanks using Delfast e-bikes that have a range of around 200 kilometres.

Now, British soldiers are experimenting with using Carl Gustaf shoulder-fired rifles from a £6,500 electric bike called the Stealth H-52, that would enable fighters to attack the enemy undetected.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the people of Ireland for taking in thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the Russian invasion.

He was speaking as he met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar on his unannounced visit to Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky said that although Ireland was a neutral country, it did not mean they were not helping Ukraine and that he was “very grateful” the Taoiseach began his visit in Kyiv’s conflict-hit suburbs of Moschun, Irpin and Bucha.

“You have seen with your own eyes the consequences of the war, the consequences of Russia’s aggression,” he said.

“I, first of all, would like to extend words of gratitude to you and to the whole people of Ireland for hosting our nationals in Ireland, this is a significant moral support to our nation.

“You’ve hosted 86,000 Ukrainian citizens, you’ve provided them with accommodation, with funding, with access to education and health support, this is very important.”

During an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar told a press conference “Russia cannot be allowed to succeed.”

As well as meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Varadkhar visited cities and villages where scores of civillians had been killed under Russian occupation.

“Perhaps Russia believes that it can break the resolve of the Ukrainian people, but I know from the way you fought for the past few years, and from my visit here, that it cannot,” he said.

“My visits to the sites of these atrocities this morning, and my meeting here in Kyiv, has confirmed to me that Russia will not succeed, and Russia cannot be allowed to succeed.

“This is the 21st century and the idea that national boundaries can be changed by violence, or the democratically-elected governments can be overthrown by foreign invasion, must perish.

“We need to make sure that Ukraine succeeds, that it wins this war, so that no other country gets attacked.

“If Russia thinks that targeting civilians and essential infrastructure will discourage Ukraine’s friends, including Ireland, well, it’s wrong.

“Volodymyr Zelensky, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Ukraine will prevail and Ukraine will be rebuilt.”

Russia did not tell South Africa that arresting President Vladimir Putin on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) would mean “war”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Shortly after the Kremlin’s comments, South Africa said that Putin would not attend a summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa in August “by mutual agreement.”

The ICC has accused Putin and his children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia, something Moscow rejects as false.

A local court submission published on Tuesday had shown that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had asked permission from the ICC not to arrest Putin in the context of the BRICS summit because to do so would amount to a declaration of war.

Speaking before South Africa said Putin would not be attending, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that everyone understood – without having it explained to them – what an attempt to infringe on Putin’s rights would mean.