Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he stopped Russian President Vladimir Putin from making a “harsh decision” against Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner mercenary group who revolted against the Kremlin last week, suggesting that Putin planned to kill the Wagner boss, The Washington Post reported. Lukashenko’s version of events could not be verified.
In Ukraine, the death toll from the bombing of a pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk has risen to eight, with 56 injured. The dead included three children, emergency services said. Rescuers were still searching the rubble for potential survivors Wednesday morning. The injured included an 8-month-old, Ukrainian officials said. The pizza restaurant was frequented by members of the military and foreign journalists.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Wagner rebellion aftermath
Analysis from our correspondents
Wagner leader Prigozhin in Belarus is bad news for pretty much everybody: The Wagner Group chief, who led an armed revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, is now in Belarus as part of a deal that saw him avoid punishment in Russia. But Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s arrival presents challenges for everyone, Emily Rauhala reports. NATO and Ukraine are on higher alert because of his presence. There’s no guarantee that Lukashenko, Belarus’s leader, can control a man who marched a column nearly to Moscow.
“The primary victim of this situation is the Belarusian people,” said Franak Viacorka, the chief adviser to the exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Prigozhin “will come in with criminals; he will bring the culture of violence,” he continued. “It will create instability in the country and at its borders, too.”
