WIRE OF JULY 15
Wagner mercenaries entered Belarus, Ukrainian border guards confirm
A Ukrainian border guard spokesman said on Saturday that he saw Wagner Group mercenaries entering Belarus from Russia, with the Belarusian Defense Ministry earlier saying it planned for the group’s mercenaries to conduct joint military exercises with the armed forces of Minsk. During a surprise visit to Kyiv, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol promised to increase the “scale of support” for Ukraine. Here is the thread for July 15.
Published on :07/15/2023 – 13:52
Modified :07/15/2023 – 22:48
6 mins
Screen capture from video showing a fighter from the Wagner mercenary group training Belarusian soldiers near the town of Osipovichi, Belarus, July 14, 2023.
Screen capture from video showing a fighter from the Wagner mercenary group training Belarusian soldiers near the town of Osipovichi, Belarus, July 14, 2023. © Belarusian Defense Ministry, Voen TV via Reuters
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5:58 p.m .: Wagner mercenaries entered Belarus, according to Ukrainian border guards
A spokesman for Ukraine’s border guards said on Saturday they observed “a few groups” of Wagner fighters entering Belarus from Russia . Spokesman Andriy Demchenko made the allegations during an interview with Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.
An independent monitoring group also reported that a large convoy carrying Wagner private army fighters was spotted entering Belarus from Russia early on Saturday after the Belarusian defense ministry said that he planned for the mercenaries and the armed forces of Minsk to conduct joint military exercises.
The Belaruski Hajun monitoring group, which tracks the movements of armed forces in Belarus, said at least 60 trucks, buses and other large vehicles entered the country, escorted by Belarusian police.
2:52 p.m .: South Korea to “increase the scale” of its aid to Ukraine
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has pledged to “increase the scale” of humanitarian aid and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine after a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Seoul “will increase the scale of support given last year, when we provided materials such as helmets and bulletproof vests,” Yoon Suk Yeol said. His country’s humanitarian aid to Ukraine will increase to $150 million in 2023 from $100 million in 2022, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his South Korean counterpart for his “meaningful” first visit to Ukraine.
“Today, during this first visit of the President of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine in the history of our relations, we talked about everything that is important for people to lead a normal and safe life,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, adding: “Thank you for these meaningful talks. Thank you for your strong support.”
2:23 p.m .: Vladimir Putin discusses Black Sea grain deal with Cyril Ramaphosa
Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with Cyril Ramaphosa according to the Kremlin, and the Russian and South African presidents discussed the African initiative for peace in Ukraine as well as the agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea, the Kremlin said.
Regarding the grain agreement which expires on Monday, Vladimir Putin repeated to his South African counterpart that the measures supposed to remove the obstacles to Russian exports of food products and fertilizers had not been fully implemented, according to the Kremlin.
1:33 p.m .: Moscow says it foiled attacks on two media personalities
The Russian security services ( FSB ) claimed to have prevented the assassinations of Margarita Simonian, one of the main voices of the Kremlin media machine, and Ksenia Sobchak , a famous influencer critical of the Ukraine offensive.
In a press release, the FSB claims to have arrested, on Friday in Moscow and in the Russian region of Ryazan, members of a neo-Nazi group called “Paragraph-88” and recruited by the Ukrainian services, against payment, to kill these two targets.
AFP cannot confirm these allegations from an independent source.
Editor-in-chief of the RT television network, Margarita Simonian is one of the best-known faces of Moscow’s war on the information field, in parallel with the offensive in Ukraine.
Ksenia Sobchak is the daughter of a former mayor of Saint Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, who was Vladimir Putin’s mentor. She hosts a very popular YouTube channel in Russia and is often critical of the authorities. Ksenia Sobchak made no secret of her opposition to the attack in Ukraine at the end of February 2022. She has temporarily left Russian territory several times since the start of the conflict.
1:21 p.m .: Ukrainian president tweets his meeting with his Korean counterpart
10:55 a.m .: South Korean president on surprise visit to Ukraine
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a surprise visit to Ukraine, during which he visited the town of Boutcha, scene of a massacre of civilians attributed to the Russian army, before a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, said the presidency.
“The president first visited the site of the Boutcha massacre, near the capital Kiev, as well as the town of Irpin, where the missile attacks were concentrated on civilian residential areas,” said the southern presidency. Korea, specifying that the meeting between the two leaders would take place later in the day.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit a memorial for the war dead to lay a wreath and hold a summit meeting with President Zelensky,” the presidency said in a statement.
South Korea, the world’s ninth-largest arms exporter, has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and has also sold tanks and howitzers to Poland, a key Kyiv ally against Russian forces.
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However, the Asian country has a long-standing policy of not supplying arms to regions in conflict, despite repeated pleas from the United States, European allies and Ukraine itself for more aid. important.
July 14 Essentials
The counter-offensive in kyiv, faced with resistance from Russian forces, “is not advancing so quickly”, admitted the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Yermak. A little earlier, the latter indicated that Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Moscow’s troops are on Ukrainian territory.
Fighters from the paramilitary group Wagner have started working as “instructors” for the territorial defense forces of Belarus, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced, three weeks after the aborted Wagner rebellion in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “agrees with me” on the extension of the Black Sea grain agreement which expires Monday evening, for his part said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan . “There is no statement about this from the Russian side,” simply replied Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman.
With AFP and Reuters
