Lukashenko says Wagner’s boss Prigozhin is in Russia, not Belarus

9:50 a.m.: The president of Belarus says the Wagner chief has returned to Russia

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin He’s not in Belarus, the nation’s highly effective ruler Alexander Lukashenko he informed reporters.

Lukashenko, who final month brokered a deal to finish the Wagner Group’s armed insurgency in Russia, stated on June 27 that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus as a part of the deal.

However at the moment he informed reporters: “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St. Petersburg. He’s not on Belarusian soil.”

Lukashenko stated a proposal for Wagner to deploy a few of its fighters to Belarus — a prospect that has alarmed neighboring NATO international locations — nonetheless stands.

9:15 am: Türkiye and Sweden talk about the membership disaster at NATO headquarters

Senior officers from Sweden And turkey meet at NATO Right this moment’s headquarters for the examination of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoganObjections to the accession of the Scandinavian nation to the navy alliance.

Secretary Normal of NATO Jens Stoltenberg He’ll preside over the assembly, which can embody the international ministers of the 2 international locations, intelligence chiefs and nationwide safety advisers.

Senior officers from Finland, which joined NATO in April after addressing Turkish considerations, will even take part.

The talks come a day after the US president Joe Biden They welcomed the Prime Minister of Sweden to the White Home in a present of help for the nation’s accession bid.

7:35 a.m.: ‘Civilians are bearing the brunt of this struggle’

Russian missiles hit house blocks in Lviv within the early hours of Thursday when most residents have been asleep, giving them little probability of discovering shelter, in keeping with France 24 correspondent Emmanuel Chase. Kyiv.

“As soon as once more, civilian infrastructure has been bombed by Russian forces – this occurs each day in Ukraine,” she explains.

6:45 a.m.: Zelensky vows concrete response after 4 killed in Lviv strike

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky He pledged a “concrete response” within the wake of a Russian missile assault on an house constructing that killed no less than 4 folks within the western metropolis of Lviv.

“The results of the evening assault by Russian terrorists,” he wrote, alongside a video put up on Telegram displaying a destroyed constructing. “Sadly, there are wounded and useless. There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible response,” he added.

5:15 a.m.: One dying toll was reported after a rocket hit a residential complicated in Lviv

The mayor of the western Ukrainian metropolis stated that no less than three folks have been killed in a Russian missile assault on an house constructing in Lviv on Thursday evening.

“Three folks have been killed,” Andrei Sadovyiyi stated in a put up on his Telegram channel, including that about 60 residences and 50 automobiles have been broken.

He had stated in a earlier put up that eight folks have been injured. It was not clear if the three folks whose deaths have been confirmed have been included on this quantity.

3:06 am: Russian missiles hit town of Lviv, western Ukraine

Ukrainian authorities stated strikes within the western metropolis of Lviv destroyed “crucial infrastructure” and injured no less than 4 folks early Thursday.

Russia Waves of drone strikes and missiles fired throughout Ukraine Since its invasion in February 2022.

The Lviv area – tons of of kilometers from the entrance strains – escaped the brunt of the assaults.

“An necessary infrastructure facility in Lviv has been broken, in keeping with preliminary stories, there are injured folks,” Lviv Governor Maksim Kozitsky wrote on Telegram.

He didn’t give different particulars and didn’t specify whether or not the raids have been by drones or missiles.

He had earlier warned that “a number of” missiles have been “transferring within the course of the western areas,” citing the Ukrainian Air Drive Command.

1:30 am: Zelensky says he sought weapons for a counterattack to start sooner

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he informed CNN He needed to start a counteroffensive in opposition to the occupying Russian forces before in June, and he urged Western allies to hurry up the provision of weapons for that mission, in keeping with excerpts through a translator launched Wednesday.

“I needed our counterattack to occur a lot earlier, as a result of everybody understood that if the counterattack unfolded later, a bigger a part of our territory can be demined,” Zelensky stated. “We’re giving our enemy time and the flexibility to plant extra mines and put together its protection strains,” he added.

He stated difficulties on the battlefield had prompted Ukrainian forces to decelerate their counter-offensive, which goals to recapture territory in jap and southern Ukraine that Russia has occupied for the reason that begin of its invasion in February 2022.

The Ukrainian chief has constantly pushed the US and different Western allies to provide his armed forces with extra superior weaponry, comparable to American F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles.

• Key developments from Wednesday 5 July:

The Worldwide Atomic Power Company referred to as on Wednesday for extra entry to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhye nuclear energy plant in Ukraine to “verify there aren’t any mines or explosives on the website”.

Ukraine and Russia have accused one another of planning to sabotage the location, elevating concern in regards to the dangers of a radioactive catastrophe at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

The Kremlin A spokesman for Dmitry Peskov informed reporters that Moscow had not but determined whether or not to resume Black Sea The grain deal, which permits for the secure export of grain from Ukraine, is ready to run out on July 18.

Russia has opened a felony case within the brutal assault by masked males in Chechnya on a distinguished Russian journalist and lawyer, because the seriousness of the accidents she sustained within the assault grew to become clear.

Learn Yesterday’s Dwell Weblog to see the way it all unfolded at the moment.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)