- CIA chief William Burns called SVR colleague Sergey Naryshkin last week
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in Kiev for a meeting with Volodimir Zelensky
- Ukrainian troops most likely redeployed in the Kherson region
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CIA chief William Burns called fellow Russian Sergey Naryshkin
Last week, CIA Director William Burns called Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR intelligence agency. They discussed the Wagner rebellion, report the American newspapers The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. During the conversation, Burns allegedly assured the Kremlin that the United States would play no role in the short-lived mutiny.
This is the highest contact between the US and Russia since the uprising. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, rioted at Russia’s defense summit a week ago. Prigozhin’s mercenary army, the Wagner group, was moving towards Moscow. The mutiny was stopped after the mediation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Boss Wagner was not prosecuted and has since fled to Belarus.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Kiev for meeting with Volodimir Zelensky
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has arrived in Kiev to meet with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, reports the Kyiv Independent. Today is Spain’s first day at the helm of the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
Ukrainian troops most likely redeployed in the Kherson region
Ukrainian forces are “almost certain” to be redeployed on the east bank of the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, the British Defense Ministry said. In their daily update on Thursday, the ministry said fighting on the eastern bank had intensified since June 27 and that Russia “most likely redeployed elements of the Dnipro Group of Forces” to “strengthen the Zaporizhzhia sector”.
The fighting around the bridgehead is almost certainly complicated by “flooding, destruction and residual mud” from the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse earlier this month, the ministry added.