June 29, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday visited Ukraine, a show of support for the European nation under attack from Russia as Republicans vying for their party’s presidential nomination have been divided over America’s role in the ongoing conflict.

Pence met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky behind closed doors at the presidential palace in Kyiv, telling the Ukrainian leader that his resolve was stronger than ever to support the country.

While in the capital city, Pence visited a children’s center caring for Ukrainian youth who were from occupied territories or had been forcefully taken to Russia, paid his respects to the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, and toured the St. Michael’s Orthodox church.

Pence also made stops at three different cities and villages — Bucha, Irpin and Moschun — outside of Kyiv that had seen heavy destruction from shelling and gruesome violence against civilians under Russian occupation last year. He toured the wreckage, met with locals and laid flowers at memorials for those killed in the war.

The former vice president has been a strong advocate for US support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, arguing that it’s in America’s best interests. The issue has created a rift among the 2024 Republican candidates. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott have also urged continued US backing for Ukraine, while former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the top polling candidates in the primary field, have questioned US aid for Ukraine.  

Pence’s visit on Thursday isn’t the first time he has traveled to the country since the war started. In March 2022, long before he announced his candidacy, Pence went to the Ukrainian border and met with refugees displaced from their homes in escaping the violence. 

Both trips were organized by Samaritan’s Purse, an American evangelical disaster relief charity that’s run by pastor Franklin Graham. Pence and his wife, former second lady Karen Pence, have volunteered before with the organization.

The war in Ukraine has raged on for more than a year now. Kyiv’s counteroffensive is underway while Russia deals with the aftermath of a short-lived mutiny by the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group, that had posed the greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power in more than two decades. Russian missiles this week struck the eastern city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, and a nearby village, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens. 

Pence has warned that Russia may not stop at Ukraine and threaten NATO allies, resulting in America having to send military troops. 

“Make no mistake: This is not America's war. But if we falter in our commitment to providing the support to the people of Ukraine to defend their freedom, our sons and daughters may soon be called upon to defend ours,” he said in a February speech at the University of Texas at Austin on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He has also called Putin a “war criminal” and said there’s “no room for Putin apologists in the Republican Party.”

The Ukrainian authorities have launched large-scale emergency response exercises in four regions to prepare for “a possible terrorist attack” at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the energy ministry announced in a Facebook post on Thursday. 

Experts from Ukraine's state-owned energy firm Energoatom have, “developed several possible scenarios of events at the ZNPP, which will be practiced during the exercise,” the post read. 

The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, confirmed that the drills had been launched there and asked the public to refrain from posting pictures online. 

The Kremlin has previously denied a claim made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia is “considering” a “terrorist attack” at the power plant, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov describing it as, “another lie.”

Some background: The nuclear power plant, with six reactors, is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. It was mostly built in the Soviet era and became Ukrainian property after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The power plant is located on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine. The area, and the nuclear complex, have been under Russian control since the beginning of the war, but the plant is still mostly operated by Ukrainian workers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been weakened by the Wagner rebellion over the weekend which shows that he is "not the only master in town” and “has lost the monopoly of force,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Thursday.

The global community has to be "very much aware of the consequences,” Josep Borrell cautioned as he spoke to journalists at a scheduled high-level meeting of European leaders in Brussels.

“A weaker Putin is a greater danger,” he added, explaining why an unstable Russia is also "a risk."

“Until now, we were looking at Russia as a threat because it was force,” Borrell said. “Now we have to look at Russia as at risk because of the internal instability.”

Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš said Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s presence in Belarus, with which the NATO member shares a border, poses a potential threat in terms of "attempted infiltration into Europe for unknown purposes."

“So that means we need to heighten our border awareness,” he added, reiterating the importance of adopting new NATO plans to strengthen the eastern flank.

Questions are swirling over the whereabouts of General Sergey Surovikin and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, both of whom have not been seen in public for days amid reports about the potential role of the air force leader in the mutiny.

Meanwhile, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been "weakened” following the 24-hour rebellion by Wagner.

Below are the latest updates:

Before Wagner mercenaries attempted to stage a military insurrection, their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had been informed that his private military company would no longer be allowed to participate in Russia’s "special military operation" in Ukraine, two Russian state news agencies reported on Thursday. 

The decision was made because Prigozhin refused to follow an order from Russia’s defense ministry that said all mercenary groups fighting in Ukraine had to sign contracts with the department, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, said in comments reported by the TASS and RIA outlets. 

Prigozhin had been told Wagner would no longer receive defense ministry funding, Kartapolov said. 

A failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia over the weekend shows “cracks and divisions” within the country, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

“What matters for NATO is that we will continue to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added, noting that EU countries have begun training Ukrainian pilots how to use F-16 fighter jets.

“The most important thing and the most immediate and urgent task is to support Ukraine to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe,” he said.

Gen. Sergey Surovikin, the commander of the Russian Air Force, has not been seen in public since overnight on Friday when he issued a video appeal to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to cease his rebellion. Questions about his whereabouts — and his potential role in the short-lived insurrection — have been swirling in recent days.

On Wednesday, the Russian-language version of the Moscow Times cited two anonymous defense sources as saying that Surovikin had been arrested in relation to the failed mutiny. CNN has not been able to independently verify that claim. 

CNN has reached out to the Kremlin and Russian Ministry of Defense for comment on Surovikin’s whereabouts. The Kremlin said on Wednesday, “no comment,” and a defense ministry spokesperson said, “I can’t say anything.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that he was unable to answer questions about the speculation around Surovikin and referred journalists’ inquiries to the Russian defense ministry. 

The video released on Friday has raised more questions than answers about Surovikin's whereabouts and state of mind. He appears in the footage unshaven and with a halting delivery, apparently reading from a script.

A popular blogger going by the name Rybar noted on Wednesday that “Surovikin has not been seen since Saturday [and] it is not known for certain where ‘General Armageddon’ [a nickname Surovikin was given by the Russian press] is. There is a version that he is under interrogation.”

Well-known Russian journalist Alexey Venediktov – former editor of the now shuttered Echo Moscow radio station – also claimed on Wednesday that Surovikin had not been in contact with his family for three days.

Here's who says he is not in custody: A former Russian member of Parliament, Sergey Markov, said on Telegram that Surovikin had attended a meeting in Rostov on Thursday, although he did not say how he knew this.

“Surovikin appeared at a meeting in Rostov,” he said. “As I wrote above, the rumors about the arrest of Surovikin are dispersing the topic of rebellion in order to promote political instability in Russia.”

Citing US officials who it said were briefed on American intelligence, The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Surovikin “had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership.” 

Additionally, Russian Telegram channel Baza has posted what it said is a brief interview with Surovikin’s daughter, Veronica, in which she claims to be in contact with her father and insists that he has not been detained. CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the recording. 

Who is Surovikin?

Surovikin, whose military career began in 1983, has a checkered history and a reputation for alleged brutality.

He first served in Afghanistan in the 1980s before commanding a unit in the Second Chechen War ​in 2004. He was the commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces during Russia’s operations in Syria, which saw Russian combat aircraft causing widespread devastation in rebel-held areas.

In 2004, according to Russian media accounts and at least two think tanks, he berated a subordinate so severely that the subordinate took his own life.

And a book by the Washington DC-based Jamestown Foundation, a think tank, said that during the unsuccessful coup attempt against former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991, soldiers under Surovikin’s command killed three protesters, leading to Surovikin spending at least six months in prison.

In a 2020 report, Human Rights Watch named him as “someone who may bear ​command responsibility” for the dozens of air and ground attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure in violation of the laws of war​” during the 2019-2020 Idlib offensive in Syria. ​

The attacks killed at least 1,600 ​civilians and forced the displacement of an estimated 1.4 million people, according to HRW​​, which cites UN figures.

In addition, the chief of the General Staff of Russia’s armed forces, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, has also not been seen since the weekend. Gerasimov is the commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been "weakened” following a 24-hour rebellion by the Wagner private military group.

The short-lived insurrection last weekend was led by Putin’s former ally and owner of Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.  

Arriving at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels Thursday, Prime Minster Orpo said, “it was a surprise what happened one week ago," adding that “we have to very carefully observe what is happening, what is happening in Russia, in Moscow, what is happening in Belarus with Wagner.”

He cautioned that: “We have to look very carefully what is happening in Ukraine, on the Ukraine border and in the war.” 

Orpo pledged ongoing support to Ukraine for "as long as it takes" and called for more Russian sanctions. "We have to send a clear signal to the Ukrainian people that we stand by them.”

“At the same time, this is a clear signal also to Mr. Putin, that he will not win this war,” Orpo concluded.

Questions are still swirling around the future of Yevgeny Prigozhin following his short-lived insurrection on Saturday.

The owner of the Wagner private military group has not been seen in public since late on Saturday night. He released an audio message on Monday, but has not appeared in any videos or photos that would confirm his whereabouts.

According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Wagner chief arrived in Belarus Tuesday. Satellite imagery showed two planes linked to Prigozhin landed at an airbase outside the country’s capital.

Lukashenko said he brokered a deal that allowed Prigozhin to go to Belarus without facing criminal charges in Russia, but details of this deal remain scarce.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists at his daily briefing call on Thursday that he did not have information about Prigozhin's whereabouts.

Some background: Prigozhin, a former ally of Putin, made his millions the founder and bombastic leader of Russia’s private military group Wagner.

The Wagner chief became a wealthy oligarch by winning lucrative catering contracts with the Kremlin, earning him the moniker “Putin’s chef.”

Once a shadowy figure, he rose to prominence as the founder of Russia’s private military group Wagner which has played a key role in multiple battles in Russia's war on Ukraine.