Putin told to end war by own Wagner mercenary chief – live

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been urged to end the war in Ukraine by the head of the Wagner mercenary army deployed by the Kremlin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed Russia had taken a “fat chunk” of Ukrainian territory and said president Putin should tell the world Russia has achieved the aims of its “special military operation,” in a video posted online on Friday night.

Mr Prigozhin also said Russian armed forces – who have suffered severe losses – should defend existing gains.

The Wagner mercenary chief also warned that the Russian people may seek a “scapegoat” for military failures as the war drags on, which could lead to revolutionary fervour.

Mr Prigozhin claimed Russia has destroyed “a large part of the active male population of Ukraine” and caused others to flee the country.

“For the authorities and society as a whole, it is today necessary to put a solid full stop on the special military operation,” said Mr Prigozhin.

“The ideal option is to announce the end of the special military operation, to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense we have actually achieved them.

“We have ground down a huge number of fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and we can report to ourselves that the tasks of the special military operation have been completed.”

He continued: “Theoretically, Russia has already [made a point] by destroying a large part of the active male population of Ukraine, and by intimidating another part of it, which fled to Europe.

“Russia cut off the Sea of Azov and a large piece of the Black Sea, seized a fat piece of Ukrainian territory and created a land corridor to the Crimea.

“Now there is only one thing left: to firmly gain a foothold, to claw in those territories that already exist.”

The comments mark the first time a senior Putin henchman directly involved in fighting on the ground has publicly called for the Kremlin to halt the war.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Russia should pay for the damage caused in Ukraine during Moscow’s invasion.

Ms Yellen said talks are ongoing on the potential mechanisms to make that happen.

“That’s a responsibility that I think the global community expects Russia to bear. This is something we’re discussing with our partners, but there are legal constraints on what we can do with frozen Russian assets,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Finland has unveiled the first section of its barbed-wired fence under construction along its long border with Russia, mainly meant to curb illegal migration.

The Finnish Border Guard showcased the building of the initial 3km (1.8 mile) stretch of the fence on Friday less than two weeks after the Nordic country joined NATO as the 31st member of the military alliance.

The border’s construction was approved last year amid wide political support mainly to prevent illegal immigration from Russia.

In 2015-2016, as a show of its strength Moscow organise large numbers of asylum-seekers, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern countries, to northern Finnish crossing points.

Russian President Putin has signed a bill allowing authorities to issue electronic notices to draftees and reservists amid the fighting in Ukraine. The bill signed into law by Putin was published Friday on the official register of government documents.

Russia’s military service rules previously required the in-person delivery of notices to conscripts and reservists who are called up for duty. Under the new law, the notices issued by local military conscription offices will continue to be sent by mail but they would be considered valid from the moment they are put on a state portal for electronic services.

In the past, many Russians avoided the draft by staying away from their address of record. The new law closes that loophole in an apparent effort to create a tool for quickly beefing up the military ahead of a widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive in the coming weeks.

Recipients who fail to show up for service would be prohibited from leaving Russia, would have their drivers’ licenses suspended and would be barred from selling their apartments and other assets.

After his China visit and meeting his counterpart in Beijing, Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the US should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine.

“The US needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace,” Mr Lula said, according to AFP.

With that, he said, the international community could “convince” the Russian and Ukrainian presidents that “peace is in the interest of the whole world.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he had an “hour and a half” phone call yesterday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, discussing the latter’s recent visit to China.

Mr Macron made a three-day visit to China earlier this month along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hoping to talk the Chinese president out of supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

“The time is not for negotiations, even if we prepare them, we have to set milestones,” the French president said after his China visit.

Over the phone call, Mr Zelensky said he also discussed “the need for Ukraine to obtain effective security guarantees even before our country joins (NATO)” with Mr Macron.

Highly classified military documents shedding light on American intelligence gathered about other countries were released online this week, sending the Pentagon into full-speed damage control to assure allies and assess the scope of the leak.

On Thursday, armed FBI officers arrested a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Authorities raided the home of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira — who worked in cyber security for the Guard — and took him into custody.

The information has apparently highlighted potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defence capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters, raising questions about whether the leak will erode allies’ trust in sharing information with the US or affect Ukraine’s strategic combat plans.

My colleague Tara Cobham reports:

Following Poland’s move to temporarily ban grain and other food imports from Ukraine to soothe its own farmers, Ukrainian agriculture minister has said the decision violates an agreement reached earlier this month.

The Ukrainian minister Mykola Solskyi said during a briefing that he hopes the issue would be resolved in a week.

“We understand this tough competition, which resulted from the blockade of Ukrainian ports. But, it is obvious – for the whole world and for any person in this world – that the Ukrainian farmer is in the most difficult situation. And we ask the Polish side to take this into account,” Mr Solskyi said, according to local news.

“Considering our strong firm and ongoing cooperation with the Polish side…I hope that we will reach an agreement early next week,” he added.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signed two decrees yesterday that impose sanctions on over 690 Russian individuals and legal entities.

Sanctions imposed included those on a number of Russian athletes as well as Russian search engines like Rambler and Yandex.

In a video address earlier this month, the president said: “None of those who help terrorists, work for them, supply or produce weapons for terror will escape responsibility.”

Mr Zelensky has not commented on the new sanctions yet.

Belarusian air force crews have completed their training for using tactical nuclear weapons as part of Russia‘s plan to deploy the weapons to its ally Belarus amid the fighting in neighboring Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

The ministry released a video in which a Belarusian pilot said that the training course in Russia had given the crews of the Belarusian air force’s Su-25 ground attack jets the necessary skills for using the weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last month that Moscow planned to put some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. It was another attempt by the Kremlin leader to dangle the nuclear threat to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine.