Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders five days after the mercenary group’s short-lived rebellion, the Kremlin said Monday.
The Moscow meeting, confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, appears to introduce fresh uncertainty about Prigozhin’s continuing influence with Russia’s leader in the wake of the failed armed mutiny.
Peskov said that on June 29 Prigozhin offered an “assessment” of Wagner’s actions on the battlefield in Ukraine and “of the events of June 24,” according to Russian state media. He said Putin “listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them options for further employment and further use in combat.”
The meeting lasted about three hours. According to Peskov, Prigozhin offered his unconditional support to Putin during their meeting.
The apparent challenge to Putin ended after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko promised Prigozhin an amnesty for him and his troops provided they relocate to neighboring Belarus. But Russian media reported last week that Prigozhin had recently been seen at his offices in St. Petersburg.
The rebellion, launched amid Prigozhin’s claimed frustration with Russia’s military leadership and its handling of the war in Ukraine, lasted just 24 hours. Prigozhin’s current whereabouts have not been publicly disclosed. His private army has helped Russia’s regular armed forces in key battles in eastern Ukraine.
Developments:
∎89% of Ukrainians want their country to join NATO, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
∎Ukraine has liberated almost 4 square miles in the south and about 1.5 square miles in the east over the past week, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Monday.
Elon Musk: Russia poised to win war of attrition
Elon Musk, who sparked outrage last year by proposing a controversial peace plan that included Crimea becoming permanent territory of Russia, now suggests Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been slowed by concerns of a Russian counterattack.
“The flower of Ukrainian and Russian youth have been dying in trenches for a long time with almost no territorial gains,” Musk tweeted. “Whichever side goes on the offensive against heavily entrenched positions will lose far more soldiers. Moreover, Russia outnumbers Ukraine ~4:1, so would win a war of attrition even if casualties were equal.”
If Ukraine takes heavy casualties in its offensive, Musk wrote, “a Russian counterattack would capture a lot more territory. This is why there has been no major offensive.”
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