August 29, 2023 at 2:22 a.m. EDT
New footage of Paul Whelan, the Marine turned safety government serving a 16-year jail time period in Russia for espionage costs he and america deny, was revealed by a Russian state-controlled information outlet. His brother, David Whelan, informed a information outlet in Detroit that the video was his first glimpse of Paul since 2020, and that he seemed decided and powerful.
Right here’s the most recent on the struggle and its ripple results throughout the globe.
Poland and the Baltic nations threatened to shut their border crossings with Belarus over safety and immigration considerations. “If there’s a essential incident, no matter whether or not it’s on the Polish or Lithuanian border, we are going to retaliate instantly. All border crossings which were opened to this point will probably be closed,” Kaminski stated on the information convention Monday, based on a Reuters translation. The inside ministers accused Belarus of getting “triggered and artificially sustained” migration that the nations — all of whom are members of NATO and the European Union — deemed unlawful.
The video of Whelan, revealed by Russia Right now, appeared to indicate him consuming lunch and finishing varied duties round a penal colony whereas carrying a black uniform. Whelan was arrested in Moscow in late 2018 on costs of espionage. He was sentenced in June 2020, and the Biden administration has stated it’s working to barter his launch.
Russia’s Federal Safety Service stated Monday that it plans to interrogate two U.S. diplomats, after charging a former consulate staffer with “cooperation on a confidential foundation with a international state,” The Washington Put up reported. The diplomats had been accused of directing the previous worker, Robert Shonov — a Russian citizen who labored on the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok — to collect details about the struggle in Ukraine.
Ukraine plans to order a compulsory evacuation of all youngsters from the Vasylivskyi and Pologivskyi districts within the Zaporizhzhia area, Ukrainian state media reported. Greater than 1,400 folks, together with 343 youngsters, have additionally been evacuated from hazard zones within the Kupyansk district since Aug. 9, the Kharkiv regional governor stated in Telegram put up Monday.
Ukrainian forces took management of the village of Robotyne within the Zaporizhzhia area, based on the nation’s deputy protection minister, Hanna Maliar. She stated Ukrainian troops had been additionally advancing southeast of Robotyne, which might convey them nearer to a Russian-held transportation hub on the best way to the besieged metropolis of Melitopol, a key goal in Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t attend the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi subsequent month, Russia’s Interfax information company reported, citing a readout from a name with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Russia stated it noticed two U.S. drones over the Black Sea, close to Crimea, on Monday. The Russian Protection Ministry stated on Telegram that the 2 unmanned aerial autos belonged to the U.S. Air Drive and that it deployed two fighter jets earlier than the drones finally modified route. Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti information company earlier stated {that a} U.S. drone was detected flying over the Black Sea on Sunday. The Put up couldn’t independently confirm the reviews.
Putin, stained by Prigozhin’s loss of life, faces requires army funeral: The Kremlin on Monday stated a call on funerals for Prigozhin and different Wagner Group members who died in a airplane crash final week rested largely with their households, and that it’s unclear whether or not the Russian president would attend a ceremony. The questions over how the airplane crash victims will probably be honored underscore persevering with divisions inside Russia’s elite over the struggle and the dangers posed by hard-line pro-war “turbo-patriots” who’ve demanded a harsher strategy in opposition to Ukraine, Robyn Dixon reviews.
Because the Kremlin weighed the risks of potential unrest if Putin doesn’t give Prigozhin and Wagner their due as struggle “heroes,” Kremlin propagandists fanned competing theories about the reason for the crash, apparently designed to tamp down suspicions in Russian society that Prigozhin was assassinated. Western intelligence companies have to this point assessed that the airplane went down after an onboard explosion.
