June 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

A European intelligence official told CNN there were “hints” the Russian security services or military might have had prior knowledge of the armed rebellion in Russia this weekend and might have wanted it to succeed.

A European intelligence official, who did not want to be named discussing sensitive information, said: “They might have known, and might have not told about it, and known and decided to help it succeed. There are some hints. There might have been prior knowledge. What happened made Putin lose prestige. If that is what factions wanted, then that is what they got.”

Asked if General Sergey Surovikin had advanced knowledge of the plot, as reported by the New York Times, or if Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin intended to capture Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or chief of staff Valery Gerasmiov, as reported by the WSJ, the official said: “There is a lot of fog still. That would be speculation. Time will tell what exactly [Prigozhin’s] reasons were.”

The official would not comment if Prigozhin is in Belarus. “We still do not know everything that was in the deal Lukashenko brokered,” the official added, saying this would determine how potent a force Prigozhin remained.

The official added that any impact on the front lines in Ukraine would likely not be felt in the next few days, but might take longer.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that there have been no serious proposals from the West to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

According to Lavrov, the longer Ukraine and the West delay a peaceful settlement, the more "difficult it will be to negotiate."

Some context: Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a 10-point peace plan to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine to G20 leaders that included a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty with Moscow.

The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that the failed Wagner insurrection destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Russian army, in an interview with CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour.

Yermak, speaking from Kyiv on Tuesday, said the events of recent days had “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Russian Army…it’s finally destroyed the myth, that everything in Russia is under control.”

The rebellion was just “one more [piece of] evidence that Putin’s attempt to revive the USSR has finally failed. I think it’s a very strong signal that the war in Ukraine is terrible, barbaric, illegal invasion,” Yermak said. 

He also said, “Everything which has happened in Russia [these] last days is the result of this war,” adding, “I think after this even, more people in the world are sure about Ukrainian victory.” 

Ukraine’s leadership says they have made gains "on all fronts" since the weekend.

Amanpour then pressed Yermak, as to whether the insurrection was the first serious chink in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armor, or if it would only cause the longtime leader to double-down on his views and control of the nation. 

Yermak said, “These last days they were confirmed that they don’t control the situation, they are not living in reality, and of course they can’t make the real decisions.” He also said he thought “we all over the world are seeing this show…I think it will have historical and very serious influence for everything which will be in the future.”

President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has "absolutely" been weakened by the short-lived mutiny over the weekend.

It was his most definitive comment to date on how the rebellion by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin affected the Russian leader's stature.

Biden and his team have been cautious in commenting on the events, wary of providing Putin pretext for claiming a western plot to oust him.

In his first public remarks on Monday, he insisted that the West had nothing to do with the mutiny.

But on Wednesday, Biden expanded on his views of Putin's diminished stature.

"It’s hard to tell but he’s clearly losing the war," Biden said.

 Asked again if Putin is weaker today than he was last week, Biden said: "I know he is."

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to seize two of Russia top military officials when he launched a short-lived mutiny on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Western officials.

Prigozhin’s plot involved the capture of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top army general Valery Gerasimov when the pair visited a region along the border of Ukraine, according to the WSJ.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) learned of the plot two days before it was due to take place, forcing Prigozhin to change his plans at the last minute and launch a march towards Moscow instead, according to the report. 

Wagner mercenaries took control of a key military base in the city of Rostov-on-Don, and his troops were approaching the Russian capital when Prigozhin called off his mutiny.

When asked about the WSJ report, two European security sources told CNN that while it was likely Prigozhin would have expressed a desire to capture Russian military leaders, there was no assessment as to whether he had a credible plan to do so.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the target hit in Tuesday’s missile strike in Kramatorsk was actually a temporary command post of the Ukrainian army unit. Ukrainian authorities say the strike hit a pizza restaurant, killing at least 10 people.

"In the city of Kramatorsk of the Donetsk People's Republic, the point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit," according to the Russian daily defense ministry statement.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service said it has detained a man who allegedly scouted the Kramatorsk pizzeria and sent a video to the Russian Armed Forces prior to the strike.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also reiterated the claim that Russia does not strike at civilian infrastructure and are only carried out on places connected with military infrastructure.

The Russian defense ministry added that the Russian Air Force carried out strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukrainian oil refining and fuel storage facilities that supply the Ukraine Armed Forces in the eastern Donbas region.

According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukrainian head of Dontesk region military administration, Russia attacked using Iskander missiles. The strike damaged 32 buildings, he added.

CNN's Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv contributed reporting to this post.

Switzerland's Federal Council rejected a request on Wednesday from defense firm RUAG concerning the export of 96 Leopard 1 A5 tanks destined for Ukraine, "as it is inconsistent with applicable law," according to a statement by the government. 

On Tuesday, RUAG submitted an export request for the resale of 96 used and non-operational Leopard 1 A5 tanks, according to the government.

"The tanks are currently in storage in Italy and would require refurbishment in Germany before being re-exported to Ukraine," the government statement said. 

Key background: Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, with its legal framework ensuring it does not send weapons directly or indirectly to belligerent states. Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, the country has faced increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve the re-exportation of weapons to Ukraine.

Switzerland did, however, break its neutrality status quo shortly after the war began by adopting European Union sanctions in March 2022. 

CNN's Inke Kappeler and Jessie Gretener contributed reporting to this post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China's position on the war in Ukraine is likely "getting more and more challenging" for Beijing to maintain.

Blinken noted that Russia's war had come up in his conversations while in Beijing last week, and "we agreed that it's something that we need to keep talking about."

"There may come a point, if there is an opening for genuine diplomacy and negotiation, where China can play a positive and productive role. That's still, alas, I think far in the future. But I think some of the tensions between the dual roles that China is trying to play are more and more apparent," Blinken said. 

Some background: China voiced support for Russia after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived insurrection.

"As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an online statement.

China has refused to condemn the invasion and instead provided much-needed diplomatic and economic support for Russia, a position that has further soured its relations with Western nations, especially in Europe.

Wagner chief Yevegny Prigozhin's attempted rebellion was "a direct challenge to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's authority," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. 

Blinken called the short-lived revolt "fundamentally an internal matter that the Russians and Putin are going to have to reckon with," but suggested that the "cracks" inside Moscow were not a secret. 

"You see dissension in the ranks, and it's not as if you need a satellite to figure that out," he said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." 

The top US diplomat said that questions of Russian leadership "are choices for Russians to make, not for us to make." He reiterated that the United States is focused instead on its support for Ukraine.

Affect on Ukraine: Blinken said the aftermath of the rebellion could be beneficial to Ukraine's counteroffensive.

"To the extent that Moscow is distracted by its own internal divisions, that may help," he said.

"I think there's some opportunity here, but it is early days, and I think this will play out not over the next days, but over the next weeks and months," he said.