Kyiv and Washington have said Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Moscow’s invasion force can exploit the turmoil caused in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group’s brief revolt and the cracks that it exposed in the Kremlin’s authority. Neither Mr Prigozhin’s whereabouts nor details of the deal were known on Sunday, and it was unclear whether his main demand – for Russian defence chiefs to be sacked for bungling the war in Ukraine – had found any support with Russian president Vladimir Putin. “These [events] create more cracks in the Russian facade, and those cracks were already profound. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of those things have been dramatically diminished by Putin’s aggression against Ukraine,” he added. This also applies to the country’s defence, it applies to the ‘special military operation,’ it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas.”

Source: The Irish Times June 25, 2023 20:01 UTC