LIVE. Zelensky: “Progress in all sectors at the front” – Latvia stops issuing visas to Russians | War Ukraine and Russia

US President Joe Biden has invited Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Washington in a telephone call. The White House announced on Monday.

“President Biden has invited Prime Minister Meloni to the White House in July,” the press release said, which did not say whether Rome has accepted the offer.

Biden would have contacted the Italian “as part of coordination between allies and partners in the wake of recent events in Russia,” it said. Both leaders reaffirmed their support for Ukraine.

Meloni and Biden also discussed the next NATO summit on July 11 and 12.

Latvia will indefinitely stop issuing visas to Russians as a result of the failed Wagner mercenary army uprising. This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riga on Monday.

It cited as the reason “the unpredictable development of domestic political events in Russia”. Applications submitted that were processed on June 25 will still be processed.

Latvia had already restricted the issuance of visas to Russian citizens through the war and only issued them in humanitarian cases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message on Monday evening that the Ukrainian army has made progress in all sectors on the frontline. “It’s a good day,” he said from the train to Kiev after a visit to the front. “I wish our boys more days like that.”

Putin also held a meeting on Monday evening with a number of people from the security services and ministers, including Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu. Together with army commander Valeri Gerasimov, he was the man Prigozhin targeted on Saturday.

Putin thanked the ministers present for their actions on Saturday, so there is nothing to indicate that Shoigu will soon have to make way. It was Shoigu’s first public appearance since the Wagner Rebellion. Gerasimov was not present.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has tried to reassure his allies in Africa. He assures that the thousands of fighters of the Wagner group stationed on that continent will not be withdrawn. This, despite the mutiny led by their commander Yevgeny Prigozhin last weekend.

In an interview with state broadcaster Russia Today, Lavrov promised that “instructors” and “private military contractors” would remain in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali. These are the two countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where most Wagner militias are active.

Both countries are strategically valuable to the Kremlin as a springboard for greater influence on the continent and as a source of lucrative natural resources.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement to the nation on Russian television on Saturday about Saturday’s failed coup attempt.

He thanked the Russians for their tolerance, solidarity and patriotism over the past few days. According to Putin, the armed uprising would have been crushed anyway, even if the troops had advanced further towards Moscow. He warned that any attempts at unrest or blackmail in Russia are “doomed to failure”. According to Putin, Ukraine and the West would have liked to see the Russians kill each other.

Putin stated that he gave the order “to prevent the bloodshed that Ukraine and the West wanted to inflict” during the paramilitary group’s failed insurgency.

“Most of Wagner’s mercenaries are also patriots,” the Russian leader said. He thanked Wagner’s commanders and soldiers for preventing further escalation. “You will be able to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry, return to your families or go to Belarus. I will keep my promise.”

Striking: the Russian president did not say a word about Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led the mutiny. It is not clear where it is at the moment.

There are still many questions about the riot, such as what exactly was agreed with the Wagner boss. Putin called his actions “betrayal” on Saturday and the Russian president has previously said that betrayal is inexcusable.

Three weeks after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, the water level in the Kherson region has returned to normal. The Ukrainian crisis management team reports this on Telegram.

The dam, which is located in an area under Russian control in Ukraine’s Kherson region, was destroyed on June 6. As a result, many areas were flooded.

Near the regional capital of Kherson, the water in the river Dnieper (Dnipro in Ukrainian) stood at 33 centimeters, which corresponds to the level before the destruction of the bridge.

At the same time, according to Ukrainian rescuers, the Kakhovka reservoir has dried up. As a result, the Dnieper – the third longest river in Europe – is only a stream in some places downstream of the destroyed dam.

Ukrhydroenergo, the Ukrainian company that manages the hydropower plants, announced that once the region is completely liberated, temporary dam constructions will soon be set up. Various regions in the country will be supplied with water in this way.

The eponymous capital of the region has been bombarded by Russian attacks for weeks. Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam, but Moscow flatly denies it.

Clearing operations continue on the northern side of the Dnieper, which is controlled by Ukraine. Experts have searched for mines in an area of ​​more than six square kilometers. The gas pipes are also checked, water pipes are disinfected and the water is pumped away from buildings in the affected areas, the local government reports.

The EU countries are contributing another 3.5 billion euros to a fund from which, among other things, weapons for Ukraine are paid. This is badly needed, because the bottom is once again in sight. But in the meantime, Hungary continues to oppose releasing extra money from that fund for Ukraine.

EU countries can declare arms deliveries to Ukraine to this fund, the so-called European Peace Facility (EPF). But it predates the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At about 5.7 billion euros, it is nowhere near equal to the many billions that the country needs. Last autumn’s increase of 2 billion is entirely due to the extra artillery ammunition that Ukraine is desperate for. And the fund actually had to last until 2027.

With the extra contribution from the EU member states, the EPF has more than doubled on balance. This “ensures the EU that it can continue to provide concrete military aid” to countries such as Moldova, Georgia, Bosnia and Mozambique, said foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.

But in the meantime, the EU countries cannot agree on releasing a new portion of the arms fund for Ukraine. Hungary, which is considered the EU country most fond of Russia, continues to thwart that.