Ukraine live briefing: Wagner Group no longer significant in Ukraine, Pentagon says
U.S.-supplied cluster munitions are now in Ukraine, U.S. Lt. General Douglas A. Sims II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s director of operations, told reporters . They have not yet been used, Ukrainian Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, told CNN .
The Pentagon has assessed that Wagner, the Russian mercenary group that conducted a brief but dramatic mutiny against the Kremlin last month, is not “participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine.” That’s according to Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.
. After attending the NATO summit in Lithuania, he visited new alliance member Finland, where he declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “ already lost the war ,” citing Moscow’s military setbacks, economic struggles and diplomatic isolation.
. Pentagon officials said the move would not increase the overall level of U.S. troops in Europe, which now stands at about 80,000, but could alter its makeup by allowing commanders to deploy additional reservists, The Post reported
, which has employed the munitions “against civilian communities,” Sims said. Ukrainians also “understand the potential for duds,” Sims added, referring to the possibility of the shells indiscriminately scattering unexploded submunitions — the reason the weapons are banned in much of the world — on battlefields, endangering future postwar residents of the areas.
, Ryder said. But they “really effectively are no longer contributing as a significant combat capability,” he added. Wagner has handed over small arms, tanks and missile systems to the Russian Defense Ministry, which released a video showing the purported Wagner weapons. The Washington Post was unable to verify the video or confirm that the weapons featured in it were used by the Wagner Group.
The invitations are due to be sent out July 26 . In an updated question-and-answer session on its website, the IOC said the National Olympic Committees of Russia and Belarus would not receive invites but reiterated its policy of leaving decisions on Russian and Belarusian athletes to the discretion of each sport.
. A small but vocal bloc of conservatives in Congress have bitterly opposed the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military aid, training and other support supplied to the government in Kyiv. But most Republicans and Democrats remain aghast at the Russian military’s brutal assault on civilians and the country’s vital infrastructure, The Post reported
a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for 100 days as of last week. “That process is underway,” Biden told reporters Thursday in Helsinki, adding that he is “doing what we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else.”
Russia fires top commander in Ukraine who criticized Defense Ministry: Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, who commanded one of Russia’s elite military forces in Ukraine, was abruptly dismissed after criticizing the leaders of the Defense Ministry, accusing them of “treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment.” His removal lays bare the divisions in Russia’s armed forces, as Putin grapples with the aftermath of last month’s mercenary rebellion that posed the greatest challenge he has faced as Russia’s leader, report Robyn Dixon, Catherine Belton and Francesca Ebel.
Source: The Washington Post
