???? Live: Death toll rises from Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Issued on: 28/06/2023 – 06:48

6:36am: Death toll rises to eight in Russian strike on Kramatorsk

The death toll has risen to eight from Russia’s attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s emergency services said on Wednesday, adding that 56 people were injured.

Two Russian missiles struck Kramatorsk on Tuesday, hitting a crowded restaurant in the city centre. Three people were pulled from the rubble, the emergency services added.

“Rescuers are working through the rubble of the destroyed building and searching for people who are probably still under it,” officials of the emergency services said on the Telegram messaging app.

6:00am: Senior Russian general knew about Prigozhin’s plans, says media

General Sergey Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, had advance knowledge that the mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning a rebellion against Moscow’s defence officials, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper cited US officials briefed on US intelligence regarding the matter, and reported that the officials were “trying to learn if Gen. Sergey Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions last weekend

5:30am: Wagner chief heads into Belarus exile, NATO vows to protect allies

Belarus welcomed the head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin into exile on Tuesday following an aborted rebellion, as NATO warned it was ready to defend against “Moscow or Minsk”.

As the fallout unfolded from Prigozhin’s brief mutiny — widely seen as the biggest threat to Kremlin authority in decades — Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to shore up his authority by thanking regular troops for averting a civil war.

But as Moscow announced preparations to disarm Wagner fighters, Putin’s arch foe, jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, launched a stinging attack on the president in his first comments since the aborted mutiny by the paramilitaries.

“There is no bigger threat to Russia than Putin’s regime,” Navalny said on social media.

“Putin’s regime is so dangerous to the country that even its inevitable demise will create the threat of civil war,” he wrote.

4:50am: South Korea unveils sanctions on Russian national over North’s weapons programmes

South Korea on Wednesday announced new sanctions on two individuals and two entities over their alleged involvement in North Korea’s weapons programmes, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The sanctions target Choi Chon Gon, a former South Korean national who acquired Russian citizenship, two companies Choi owns and a North Korean who supported Choi, the ministry said.

Choi is accused of helping North Korea’s illegal financial activities in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions after acquiring Russian citizenship.

“It marks the first time our government has imposed unilateral sanctions on an individual of Korean descent,” the ministry said in a statement.

3:00am: Taiwan detects two Russian warships off its coast

Taiwan sighted two Russian frigates sailing off its eastern coast on Tuesday and deployed surveillance ships and aircraft to monitor their movements, the island’s Ministry of National Defence said.

The Russian warships were “detected sailing from south to north in the waters off our eastern coast” as of 11 pm local time (1500 GMT), it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Taiwan’s military monitored their movements and “dispatched aircraft, ships and (activated) shore-based missile systems to keep watch”, it added.

The ministry did not say how far the warships were from Taiwan’s coast.

2:00am: Wimbledon braced for Ukraine and Russian cold front

In 2013, Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky pulled off one of the greatest Wimbledon shocks when he demolished Roger Federer on Centre Court.

Ten years on, Stakhovsky has exchanged his tennis whites for army fatigues as he fights with the Ukraine military against the Russian invaders.

The sporting fallout from the conflict will likely be reflected in the tranquil surroundings of the All England Club in leafy south-west London when Wimbledon gets underway on Monday.

Twelve months ago, players from Russia and close ally Belarus were banned from Wimbledon, the only one of the four Grand Slam events to adopt such a hard-line response to the war.

Key developments from Tuesday, June 27:

At least four people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a Russian rocket strike that hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, authorities said Tuesday. Ukrainian police said Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city.

The United States will provide Kyiv with a new military package worth up to $500 million, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in a show of support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia as Moscow deals with the aftermath of a mutiny by mercenary fighters.

NATO is ready to defend itself against any threat from “Moscow or Minsk”, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, after Belarus welcomed Wagner rebel leader Yevgeny Prigozhin into exile. Stoltenberg said NATO would agree to strengthen its defences at a key summit in Lithuania next week in order to protect all members, especially those which border Russia’s ally Belarus.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)