“No agreement with Zuppi”. The meeting with Kirill

14:30Moscow: “Two Ukrainian generals killed in Kramatorsk”Two Ukrainian generals and dozens of soldiers, including 20 “foreign mercenaries”, were killed in the Russian shelling of Kramatorsk, Moscow’s defense ministry says, quoted by the RIA agency Novosti.14:40Kiev: “Russians kidnap our citizens for money”Russian forces kidnap Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories and then demand large sums of ransom money: this week already about a hundred people have been kidnapped in the Kherson region. The Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Anna Malyar, denounced it on Telegram. 15:00 Kuleba: “It’s time for NATO to clarify Ukraine’s entry” NATO summit in Vilnius a success. Ukraine continues to work actively with all NATO allies to convince them that the time has come to clarify Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance”. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba writes it on Twitter. Stoltenberg today takes part in the European Council for a working lunch also in view of the Vilnius summit15:04Kiev: “The offensive continues, we are making progress””We managed to take the strategic initiative, the Security and Defense Forces of the Ukraine continue to conduct offensive operations and are making progress”: the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Kiev, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, writes on Telegram, referring to a telephone conversation with the chief of the joint staff, Mark Milley. 15:07 The Kremlin: “Prigozhin? We don’t know where he is”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know where Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin is.15:38Putin to Dagestan: first trip after the rebellion”Sanctions and Russophobic policy have Russian tourists have canceled the West from their destinations with a financial loss, reputation and trust” Putin said at the end of the meeting in Dagestan15:52Moscow: “Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine”The president of Defense Committee of the Duma Andrey Kartapolov announced that the founder of Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin did not want to sign the contract with the Russian Defense Ministry. And therefore his group will no longer fight in Ukraine. Kartapolov recalled that even before the mutiny, the Defense Ministry had asked “all groups performing combat tasks to sign a contract. Everyone started making this decision. Except Prigozhin. He was told that Wagner would no longer take part in the special military operation and there would be no funding or supplies.” 16:38 Budanov: “I hate to admit it, but Prigozhin is a true patriot” “I hate to admit it, but Yevgeny Prigozhin is a patriot of Russia”. With these statements made to Ukrainska Pravda, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, explained why, according to him, the head of Wagner interrupted his march towards Moscow. Prigozhin was persuaded to stop the armed rebellion by leveraging his “patriotic beliefs,” says Budanov, “Lukashenko and others managed to convince him that his actions would tear Russia apart.” 17:00Pence to Kiev from Zelensky: “ I’m doing my part” Former US vice president Mike Pence, running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, made a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Nbc News reports. Visiting Ukraine “strengthens my determination to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support from our Ukrainian friends and allies,” Pence told TV in an interview from Kiev. He is the first Republican presidential candidate to meet Zelensky during the election campaign. 17:14 Russian bombs on Kherson: two dead Russian forces attacked the city of Kherson killing two civilians and wounding two others. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Ukrainian regional military administration in Kherson, writes this in Telegram. “In the afternoon, the occupiers fired on the Kherson ‘point of invincibility’. Terrorists hit the place where civilians went to receive humanitarian aid. Two citizens were killed, two others are in hospital in moderate conditions”, Prokudin declared on Telegram. 19:10 Kirill to Cardinal Zuppi: “Churches work together for peace” “Churches can work together to serve the cause of peace and of justice”. This was stated by the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill during the meeting with the Pope’s envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, as reported by RIA Novosti. “It is important that all the forces of the world unite to prevent a major armed conflict,” added Kirill. 19:50 Zelensky to EU leaders: “We are ready for accession negotiations”“This is a historic moment to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. A Europe of values, a free and strong Europe, a Europe of peace is unthinkable without Ukraine. We are ready to start accession negotiations and our progress in implementing the European Commission’s recommendations needs to be fixed. Ukraine is determined to be fully prepared to start accession negotiations as soon as possible, and we will.” Volodymyr Zelensky said this in his speech at the European Council. “I think it is symbolic that this Saturday, the first day of the Spanish presidency, Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, visits Ukraine at my invitation. For the first time, the start of a country’s presidency will be marked by a visit to Ukraine. And this says a lot about how important the next six months will be for our Europe,” Zelensky added. 20:20 Zelensky: “The Russian dictatorship is getting weaker” Two of our regions – Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Our soldiers are doing a great job and I am proud of them, they are repelling Russian attacks and destroying Russian terrorists. We manage to free our land and our people from the occupiers, and that is the most important thing.” Volodymyr Zelensky said this in his speech to the EU Council. Adding that “the more successful our soldiers are now, the longer Russia will not pose a threat to Ukraine and our entire Europe”. “History – he continued – clearly demonstrates that failed aggressions always make dictatorships weak. Indeed, this is what we are seeing in Russia right now: we are seeing their weakness, which we need so much ”, and“ her defeat will solve the problem of this war ”.