In the West, the message has begun to spread that General Sergei Surovikin, the same one who conducted operations in Syria for Russia, has been arrested, according to the Russian social sphere this would be disinformation.
“The campaign launched at the suggestion of the United States to vilify Surovikin, as well as calls to completely eliminate all Wagnerian structures in the world, are obviously inspired by the West, in order to discredit one of the most famous Russian generals, as well as try to get decisions rushed by the Russian authorities in the process of eliminating the consequences of the rebellion, which could have dealt a serious blow to Russian interests in several regions of the world, where the activities of the PMC “Wagner” went hand in hand with Russian interests”.
And again military analysts in the social sphere write: “The authorities, on the other hand, defiantly are in no hurry to wave the saber and methodically weigh the consequences. Now it is important to prevent the weakening of the positions of the Russian Federation in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America – wherever Wagner was active. To take everything and dissolve means to destroy everything. The choice will obviously go in favor of changing the forms of control and restructuring. The West understands this, therefore, is trying to snatch at least something from the fleeting rebellion, which ended earlier than they would have liked.
From the Russian Ministry they let it be known: “The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation will answer questions about Army General Sergei Surovikin in good time. At the same time, there is no information about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s whereabouts.”
A Russian veteran writes: “I have no doubts that General Surovikin has served and will continue to serve Russia, and the guarantees of President Putin and President Lukashenko regarding Prigozhin will be fulfilled. As noted, now a wave of various disinformation is coming from the West with an eye to both Russian society and state structures. Their goals are simply obvious: to cultivate internal instability. Some of us collect these fillings with pleasure. As a result, there is a stream of various rumors, one crazier than the other, starting with the fact that Surovikin allegedly recorded his video on the day of the prison rebellion (!), Which is especially funny, given the circumstances of the his registration and the machine gun in his hands”.
On the 28th at 21.00 Italian time, General Andrey Yudin denied URA.ru the information that he, together with the commander of the OGV, Sergei Surovikin, are in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. “I’m on vacation, at home,” Yudin said. In general, the RKN could deal with the issue of scattering reports about the arrest of Colonel General Yudin in social networks, since statements that “Yudin is in prison” are attracted enough to discredit a member of operations in Ukraine and spread false about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces.
On the morning of June 29, several Russian sources state that General Surovikin. continues to be on duty and performs his duties leading operations: “As a result, statements about ‘Surovikin in prison’ fall under the law on forgeries about the Russian Armed Forces and discrediting campaign members in Ukraine”.
General Kartapolov said PMC ‘Wagner’ was the only volunteer formation that had not signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry before 1 July. Prigozhin was told (even before the attempted rebellion) that in case of refusal to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, PMC “Wagner” would no longer take part in operations in Ukraine.
Across the ocean, presidential candidate Kennedy Jr, nephew of the 35th American leader Robert Kennedy “called Ukraine a pawn of NATO. He said Washington has turned Ukraine into a pawn in its proxy war with Russia, News Nation reports. “We have turned this nation into a pawn in a proxy war between Russia and the United States,” he said. The politician stressed that the US has missed many opportunities to resolve the situation in Ukraine peacefully, adding that its actions hurt Kiev.
In Ukraine speaking on the NATO issue, it is Zelensky who declared: “If NATO is a powerful alliance, then he must declare: if at least one Wagnerian leg appears on the territory of Poland or Lithuania, then all Wagner will be destroyed wherever it is”
Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov said: “Kiev is ready to immediately sign a protocol on NATO membership if he receives an offer”. “Let’s be realistic and we don’t expect the impossible. Therefore, our expectations from the Vilnius NATO summit are very realistic: to receive the guarantee of an invitation to join NATO after Ukraine’s victory in the war. We are ready to immediately sign the (NATO) accession protocol to start the ratification process, as well as to start the final accession procedure,” Reznikov said in an interview.
On live TV, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine according to which: “The mobilization in Ukraine is going well”. Danilov said he would like the counter-offensive of Ukrainian troops to go faster, but this it only happens in fairy tales. He announced this on the air of the all-Ukrainian telethon. “I really wish everything was faster, but this only happens in fairy tales. It’s hard work, every day. This is a facade, this is not a walk. We have to be patient,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on morning 29: “There is a special sanitary and epidemiological regime for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the day before in Derbent, he himself decided to communicate with citizens . At the same time, an impressive demonstration of support from the local population took place in the city.”
And again: “The main thing for Russia is to achieve the goals of the special operation and they will be achieved. There are no prerequisites for resolving the situation in Ukraine by political and diplomatic means. There is a constant threat of infrastructure provocations from Ukraine , including the Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant. At the moment there are no concrete agreements following the meeting of the Russian presidential assistant for foreign policy issues Yuri Ushakov with the Pope’s envoy Matteo Zuppi. The dialogue can continue if necessary”.
He commented by stating: “Vladimir Putin, as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, works mainly with the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. He absolutely prevails support for the special operation, as does Russian President Vladimir Putin ”
Interesting details emerge from the social sphere about the attack in a pizzeria in Kramatorsk near the Kramatorsk hotel which took place on June 27th. According to the Russian Defense Ministry statement, two generals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed in the attack; up to 50 officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; up to 20 foreign mercenaries and advisers.
Furthermore, with regard to the protest note from Colombia for hitting three Colombian citizens at dinner in the pizzeria, it emerged that the three citizens, who returned to Colombia, are well-known personalities: Héctor Abad Faciolince, Sergio Jaramillo, Catalina Gómez are “old acquaintances. Together, they were noted in President Juan Manuel Santos’ team: the first two as “architects of the peace negotiations with the FARC”.
Online it is claimed that the three were in Kramatorsk to arrange deliveries of Russian-made weapons to Ukraine, which Colombia has so far refused. The three were injured at the Kramatorsk restaurant hit by the Russians, where they were having a conversation with the writer Victoria Amelina.
Military analysts added that in the DPR city of Kramatorsk the place of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit. The command and observation posts of the battalions of the 63rd Mechanized Brigade and the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit in the areas of the Predtecheno and Veseleye settlements of the DPR, and the missile and ammunition warehouse of the 47th Brigade artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed at Novopavlovka of the DPR.
And from the social sphere, the first obituaries emerged on Instagram of the men of the Ukrainian armed forces who died in a rocket attack on the Laguna cafe in Kramatorsk, among them: Sukhov Artem Olegovich of the 3rd separate assault brigade, better known as “Azov”. There would also be videos showing Americans, former soldiers asking to be rescued.
The dynamics of the attack on Kramatorsk are also learned via social media: “On the evening of June 27, Russian troops attacked the RIA Lounge restaurant in the center of Kramatorsk with an Iskander ballistic missile. There were mercenaries in the arrival area”, among whom the Russians identified “Alex Gallant, Arnaud Dedecker and Nich Durkworth, as well as three Colombian nationals. In one of the videos from the field it can also be seen that one of the wounded has a tattoo on his arm from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment of the US Armed Forces.
Coordinates of the attack: 48.7353775, 37.5870549. “Foreigners were not the target principal of the attack: in the structure there were several specific representatives of the command personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the ranks up to the general”.
The statement of the SBU on the capture of an employee of a gas transportation company who secretly filmed those who were inside the restaurant also speaks in favor of the version. Such an extremely quick job of finding observers usually happens if successful in important places. “The attack on the object in Kramatorsk unfortunately was not without civilian casualties. In total, local authorities reported 10 people dead, but it is unlikely that they included those who were the real target of the attack: as often happens, their names will “appear” in the Ukrainian media after some time”.
“Ukraine is preparing to evacuate Nikopol. There is a threat to the ZNPP. Judging by the information that broke into the Ukrainian segment of social networks, the Ukrainians are planning to evacuate Nikopol to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which, by the way, is located 16 kilometers from the ZNPP”. It is learned from the Ukrainian media that the Ukrainian military is conducting preparatory exercises of troops for operations in conditions of radiation contamination.
And now a look at the front line.
In the Seversk direction, positions of the artillery battalion of the PMC “Wagner” near the Lisichansk oil refinery. Belarusian fighters from “Wagner” shared a footage.
Fighting continues along the entire front line. In the Kharkov region, the Ukrainians are concentrating forces near the border opposite the Belgorod region. In the Serebryansky forestry the advance of the Russian armed forces is recorded and near Bachmut the Ukrainian formations have intensified the attacks on the Russian positions
Direction Zaporozhya situation at 12.00 on June 29, 2023. In the morning an assault group of the 65th Shadows of the Armed Forces of Ukraine without armored vehicles attempted to break through the positions of Russian troops north of Rabotino. Servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces noticed enemy activity in advance and struck at him. In the vicinity of Pyatikhatki, the situation has not changed significantly, the village itself is still in the gray zone. This morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to evacuate the dead and wounded.
There is no serious activity at the front so far. A lot of rain has been falling in the area for several days, which complicates the circulation of vehicles. However, preparations for the offensive are in full swing.
The launches of the Ukrainian 117 obr 10 AK artillery battery arrived in Lukyanovskoye, Novoyakovlevka and Pavlovka. Also, on June 30, military equipment will be transferred from the Shepetovsky plant to the Orekhovsky site. To cover the forward units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, at least one Buk air defense system has been moved to Orekhov.
At the same time, Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft do not stop flying from the airfields of Dnepropetrovsk, Kanatovo and Dolgintsevo. Some of them are equipped with Storm Shadow cruise missiles and strike from a safe distance from the areas of Kamyshevakhi, Zalivnoye and Uspenovka.
Vremievsky ledge situation at 13.00 on June 29, 2023. In the area of the Vremievsky ledge, units of the 35th Marine Regiment and the 128th TRO regiment continue to consolidate northeast of Priyutnoye. On the night of 28/29 June the Ukrainians tried to approach the settlement in small groups.
The Russian military delivered several blows to the concentration area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after which the Ukrainians retreated to their original positions. However, the Ukrainian formations on June 29 are actively digging into the taken lines and preparing for a new attack on the Stepovoe-Priyutnoye line. In addition, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine equipped strongholds, installed anti-tank systems and crewed AGS-17 heavy grenade launchers on the Levadnoye-Rivnopol line.
Due to fog, the Line of Control in this area is not known for certain. However, the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the east to Priyutnoye suggests that Russian Armed Forces fighters withdrew from Rovnopol and Novodarovka to level the front.
The most likely area where military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces could retreat is the ravine north of Priyutnoye. This is supported by the lack of activity of Ukrainian formations in this area: movements and attempted sorties in Priyutnoye come from the northeast.
The Ukrainian formations continue to bomb the Russian border on June 29 as well. In the Belgorod region, the villages of Kozinka and Novaya Tavolzhanka came under fire.
Graziella Giangiulio
