Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin offered Wagner chance to keep fighting under ‘Grey Hair’ commander

Vladimir Putin offered Wagner soldiers the chance to continue fighting under a different commander- known by his nom de guerre, ‘Sedoi’ or ‘Grey Hair’. ‘Sedoi’ is a highly decorated veteran of Russia ‘s wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. He is from St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, and has been pictured with the president. The Russian president made the offer last month, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant, days after the attempted mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin . ‘All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,’ Kommersant quoted Putin as saying. ‘And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time.’ Putin said that many of the commanders had nodded their heads at his suggestion but Prigozhin, who was sitting at the front, did not see this, Kommersant said. ”No, the boys won’t agree with such a decision’,’ Putin quoted Prigozhin as saying. Key Points Putin offered Wagner the chance to keep fighting under ‘Grey Hair’ commander Senior Russian general says he was fired after accusing defence ministry of treachery Senior Russian general killed in airstrike with British Storm Shadow missile Russian spy chief spoke to CIA boss about ‘what to do with Ukraine’ ‘We’re not Amazon’: Ben Wallace cautions Kyiv over weapons demands Putin offered Wagner the chance to keep fighting under ‘Grey Hair’ commander 09:03 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Vladimir Putin offered Wagner soldiers the chance to continue fighting, but under a different commander- known by his nom de guerre, ‘Sedoi’ or ‘Grey Hair’. ‘Sedoi’ is a highly decorated veteran of Russia’s wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. He is from St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, and has been pictured with the president. The Russian president made the offer last month, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant, days after the attempted mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. ‘All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,’ Kommersant quoted Putin as saying. ‘And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time.’ Putin said that many of the commanders had nodded their heads at his suggestion but Prigozhin, who was sitting at the front, did not see this, Kommersant said. ”No, the boys won’t agree with such a decision’,’ Putin quoted Prigozhin as saying. Poland will respond in kind if Russia closes consulates, says PM 09:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Poland will respond in kind if Russia closes down its diplomatic missions, the Polish prime minister said on Friday, in response to reports that Moscow had decided to close the Polish consulate in Smolensk. ‘We regularly receive information about aggressive diplomatic actions from Russia’, Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference. ‘If in the end it comes to it that Russia starts to liquidate our offices we will respond in kind.’ Russia launches overnight drone attack on Ukrainian president’s hometown 08:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain A 56-year-old man was injured in an overnight Russian drone strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, the regional governor said on Friday. The attack damaged a number of buildings in Kryvyi Rih but Ukraine’s air force said 16 of the 17 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones launched by Russia overnight had been shot down in southern and eastern areas of the country. Falling debris damaged a municipal enterprise, two residential buildings and a transport company in Kryvyi Rih, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app. City mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said windows had been blown out in apartment blocks and private houses, hospitals and schools. The drone launches were the latest in a series of attacks in which the capital Kyiv came under attack on three successive nights this week. Russia did not comment on the attacks, and denies deliberately targeting civilians. Wagner’s attempted mutiny may have impacted Russia’s choices for Navy Day fleet review 08:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain The UK ministry of defence said there is a ‘realistic possibility’ Wagner’s attempted mutiny has impacted Russia’s decision to not include nuclear-powered submarines in their Navy Day fleet review. The update said: ‘On 12 July 2023, Russian state media reported that nuclear-powered submarines of Russia’s Northern Fleet will not be taking part in the main Navy Day fleet review in St Petersburg on 30 July 2023. ‘Since the current Navy Day format was established in 2017, this would be the first year that no nuclear-powered submarines have been involved. The change is likely primarily due to allow for maintenance and to retain availability for operations and training. ‘There is also a realistic possibility that internal security concerns since Wagner Group’s attempted mutiny have contributed to the decision.’ Prigozhin ‘disagreed’ with offer for Wagner fighters to keep serving, Putin claims 07:20 , Namita Singh Yevgeny Prigozhin disagreed with Vladimir Putin’s plan for giving fighters of the Wagner group the opportunity to remain serving together in Russia after their revolt, reported Russian daily Kommersant, citing the Russian president. ‘Prigozhin … said after listening: ‘No, the boys won’t agree with such a decision,’ Kommersant quoted Mr Putin as saying. Wagner fighters played a key role in the Russian army’s advance into eastern Ukraine and were the driving force in the capture in May of the city of Bakhmut after months of battles. But Mr Prigozhin constantly accused the military of failing to back his men and Wagner fighters unhappy with the defence ministry’s conduct of the war took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on 23 June and began moving towards Moscow. They halted their advance the next day after being offered a deal under which they could resettle in Belarus, along with Mr Prigozhin. Any notion of pressing charges against Mr Prigozhin was dropped. Mr Putin told the newspaper there was no possibility of Wagner remaining in its current form. ‘Wagner does not exist,’ Mr Putin told Kommersant. ‘There is no law on private military organisations. It just doesn’t exist.’ Wagner forces not engaged in Ukraine in any significant way – Pentagon 07:00 , Namita Singh The Wagner mercenary group is not participating in military operations in Ukraine in any significant way, the Pentagon said on Thursday, more than two weeks after the group staged a brief armed mutiny in Russia. ‘At this stage, we do not see Wagner forces participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine,’ said Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder. Wagner fighters had waged some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But in the wake of the 23-24 June revolt, fighters were given the option of going into exile, joining Russia’s regular forces or going home. On Wednesday, Russia’s defense ministry said Wagner was completing its handover of weapons to Russia’s regular armed forces. Russian deputy foreign minister discussed grain deal with Turkish UK officials 06:40 , Namita Singh Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin discussed a Black Sea grain deal with his Turkish counterpart Burak Akcapar in a phone call on Wednesday, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday. According to the ministry, the conversation was initiated by Turkey and ‘special attention was paid to the implementation of the ‘Black Sea initiative’ on the export of Ukrainian food’. Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin in Damascus on 26 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) Also on Wednesday, Vershinin held a phone call with top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan. ‘The sides exchanged views on the implementation of the Istanbul Package Agreements of 22 July 2022 in the context of global food security challenges.’ Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons. Russia plans to build many more 06:20 , Namita Singh The Ukrainian civilians woke long before dawn in the bitter cold, lined up for the single toilet and were loaded at gunpoint into the livestock trailer. They spent the next 12 hours or more digging trenches on the front lines for Russian soldiers. Many were forced to wear overlarge Russian military uniforms that could make them a target, and a former city administrator trudged around in boots five sizes too big. By the end of the day, their hands curled into icy claws. Nearby, in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, other Ukrainian civilians dug mass graves into the frozen ground for fellow prisoners who had not survived. One man who refused to dig was shot on the spot – yet another body for the grave. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being detained across Russia and the Ukrainian territories it occupies, in centers ranging from brand-new wings in Russian prisons to clammy basements. Most have no status under Russian law. And Russia is planning to hold possibly thousands more. A Russian government document obtained by The Associated Press dating to January outlined plans to create 25 new prison colonies and six other detention centers in occupied Ukraine by 2026. In addition, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May allowing Russia to send people from territories with martial law, which includes all of occupied Ukraine, to those without, such as Russia. This makes it easier to deport Ukrainians who resist Russian occupation deep into Russia indefinitely, which has happened in multiple cases documented by the AP. Putin tells newspaper he offered Wagner fighters chance to keep serving 06:00 , Namita Singh Russian president Vladimir Putin offered mercenary fighters with the Wagner group the opportunity to remain serving together in Russia after their revolt, he said in an interview published late on Thursday. Mr Putin, interviewed by the Russian daily Kommersant, said this was one of several offers he made at a meeting with around three dozen fighters and their founder Yevgeny Prigozhin late last month, five days after Wagner staged the abortive revolt against Russia’s military hierarchy. Under the offer, the fighters would stay under their current commander, who the newspaper identified only by his call sign of ‘Grey Hair.’ Russian president Vladimir Putin holds a minute of silence for pilots killed in clashes with the mutineers during a revolt by Wagner mercenaries (AFP via getty images) Mr Putin also said it was up to Russia’s government and parliament to work out a legal framework for private military formations.Kommersant said Mr Putin spoke of meeting 35 Wagner fighters and Mr Prigozhin in the Kremlin and offering them options for the future, including remaining under their commander of 16 months. ‘All of them could have gathered in one place and continued their service,’ Kommersant quoted the president as saying. ‘And nothing would have changed. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time.’ As Mr Putin is the army’s commander-in-chief, he seemed to be implying that they would remain within the Russian military, although he did not say that explicitly. ‘Many of then nodded when I said this,’ Kommersant quoted Mr Putin as saying. Ukraine receives cluster munitions, pledges limited use 05:40 , Namita Singh Ukraine has received cluster bombs from the United States, munitions banned in more than 100 countries, but has pledged to only use them to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers. Valeryi Shershen, a spokesperson for the Tavria, or southern, military district on Thursday confirmed an announcement by his commander that the weapons had arrived a week after the United States said it would send them as part of an $800m security package. The Pentagon also announced their arrival. Moscow has denounced their shipment. Defence minister Sergei Shoigu warned on Thursday that Russia could resort to deploying similar weaponry if faced with their use. A casing of a cluster bomb rocket lays on the snow-covered ground in Zarichne on 6 February 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (AFP via Getty Images) Cluster munitions typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades. Each side has accused the other of using cluster bombs in the conflict launched by Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Human Rights Watch says both Moscow and Kyiv have used cluster munitions. Russia, Ukraine and the US have not signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans production, stockpiling, use and transfer of the weapons. 05:20 , Namita Singh Diplomatic efforts to free the detained Wall Street Journal reporter are intensifying, Bevan Hurley reports. UK accuses Russia of ‘cynical brinkmanship’ over Ukraine grain deal threat 05:00 , Namita Singh The UK has accused Russia of ‘cynical brinkmanship’ over threats to collapse a deal that allows Ukraine grain to be exported to countries at risk of famine. The Black Sea Grain Initiative is a deal negotiated with Kyiv and Moscow by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022 to ease a global food crisis, allowing agricultural produce from the wartorn nation’s southern ports to be shipped out without fear of attack. It came with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertiliser, which have been exempted from Western sanctions regimes applied since the invasion started more than 500 days ago. Report: UK accuses Russia of ‘cynical brinkmanship’ over Ukraine grain deal threat What to know about the harrowing Ukraine war doc ’20 Days in Mariupol’ 04:40 , Namita Singh Theatregoers in select cities will soon be able to watch ’20 Days in Mariupol ,’ the visceral documentary on Russia ‘s early assault on the Ukrainian city. The 94-minute film is a joint production by hte Associated Press and PBS ‘Frontline’ and has been met with critical acclaim and an audience award at the Sundance Film Festival. AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov directed the movie from 30 hours of footage he and other AP journalists shot in Mariupol in the opening days of the war. Chernov and AP colleagues Evgeniy Maloletka, a photographer, and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko were the last international journalists in the city before escaping. Report: Zelensky tweet on Nato so infuriated US officials they reconsidered policy, report says 04:20 , Namita Singh Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ‘s obvious impatience over Nato ‘s slow-moving decision-making process has reportedly irritated US officials enough that they reconsidered Ukraine’s invitation to join the alliance. For months, Mr Zelensky has appealed to Nato leaders hoping they would accept his country’s application to join the alliance as they fight off Russian troops. But Nato countries have been reluctant – not wanting to rock the boat too much with Russia during the middle of the war. Then, after Nato countries failed to deliver a specific timeline to Mr Zelensky on Nato membership before the summit this week, Mr Zelensky’s frustration resulted in a more aggressive approach in the form of a tweet . What followed next? Ariana Baio reports: Zelensky’s Nato tweet infuriated US officials so much they reconsidered, report says Biden signs executive order adding 3,000 reservists to US presence in Europe amid Russian invasion of Ukraine 04:00 , Namita Singh Presi