Russian Ukraine war: Putin’s forces ‘dealt a good kick’ after first British Challenger 2 tank destroyed

The North Korean leader is said to be planning a possible visit to see the Russian president later this month to discuss weapons for Moscow’s war machine. Given the isolation both men face it is clear they need each other, writes Chris Stevenson:

The UK announced Wednesday it will declare Russia‘s Wagner mercenary group a banned terrorist organisation, saying it remains a threat to global security even after the death of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The government said an order will be introduced in Parliament to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act.

The designation, once approved by lawmakers, will bar membership in or support for Wagner, which has played a major fighting role during Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine. It also has operated in Syria and several African nations.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Wagner “has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders. Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security.”

“They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law,” she said.

A Russian-appointed official has claimed that Moscow’s forces “tactically abandoned” the strategic Ukrainian village of Robotyne, more than a week after Kyiv announced its recapture.

The Russian army had withdrawn for tactical reasons, said Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region.

“The Russian army abandoned – tactically abandoned – this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in… doesn’t generally make sense. Therefore the Russian army moved off into the hills,” news outlet RBC quoted him as saying.

Russia has not previously acknowledged the loss of Robotyne, the recapture of which was announced by Ukraine last week.

Defence sources believe the British Challenger 2 tank destroyed in Ukraine was initially immobilised by a mine.

The tank hit a mine which sparked a fire in the rear fuel tank, a Western defence source told the BBC.

Russia has heavily mined the territory it has captured in Ukraine, as well as deploying anti-tank “dragon’s teeth” concrete obstacles, since Ukraine’s Western allies started supplying it with top-tier tanks including the Challenger 2 and Germany’s Leopard.

Four members of the Ukrainian military were evacuated from the tank to safety. But the empty immobilised tank was then targeted by a Russian Lancet loitering drone which completely destroyed it, the defence source said.

While the exact location and time of the tank’s destruction is not known, it is the first verified sighting of a Challenger 2 on the battlefield since they were first supplied by Britain.

Once cleared, the order will make it illegal to be a member of the group or to support it.

The group, formerly led by now-dead Yevgeny Prigozhin, is known to carry out Russia’s dirty work in Syria and Africa, and has also handed Vladimir Putin Russia’s biggest victory of capturing Bakhmut against Ukraine in the continuing invasion.

Assets belonging to Wagner, primarily consisting of contractors and prison convicts, will be declared as terrorist property and will be seized after the draft order is cleared. It will also render certain proscription offences punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has isolated him on the international stage – and Western sanctions have hit Russia’s economy – the president has been casting around for ways to alleviate the pressure and feed his war machine.

First it was China and President Xi Jinping. Mr Putin has consistently touted his good relationship with Mr Xi and has used that to get an economic lifeline from Beijing. In June, Chinese customs data showed that trade between the two nations was $93.8bn (£74.7bn) from January to May 2023, up 40.7 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

The data also showed that China’s exports to Russia were $43bn (£34bn) from January to May 2023, up 75.6 per cent on the same period the previous year. A report from the Financial Times this week also said that China’s banks are extending billions of dollars of loans to Russian banks.

The bromance is alive and well. But it is clear that Vladimir Putin needs Xi Jingping more than he needs Mr Putin.

Mr Kim would happily take the kind of bromance that Mr Putin believes he has with Mr Xi. The pair are said to have exchanged letters. In June, Mr Kim sent a message to Mr Putin marking Russia’s national day, where he said he would “hold hands” with the Russian leader and that the nation had the full support of North Korea’s people. The Kremlin said last week that Moscow intends to deepen its “mutually respectful relations” with Pyongyang.

Ukraine’s military confirmed advances along the frontlines yesterday as the Russian side described “tension” in the southern region of the war-hit nation in an update yesterday evening.

“We are pressing our offensive in the Bakhmut sector and our defenders are advancing confidently metre by metre, namely Klishchivka,” Ilya Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, told national television.

He was referring to a village located on heights south of Bakhmut, seen as critical to recapturing the city.

Russian forces had been dealt “a good kick” near the village of Novoyehorivka which halted their advance, he said.

Almost three months after Ukraine began its counteroffensive to repel Russian forces from its territory, Kyiv has reclaimed several settlements.

Several villages in a southward drive towards the Sea of Azov have been recaptured and Ukraine’s military says it is regaining ground near the eastern city of Bakhmut, seized by Russia in May after months of battles.

The spokesperson said Ukrainian troops had withstood an onslaught further north near Lyman, a town they retook last year.

Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed Tuesday to extend their voluntary oil production cuts through the end of this year, trimming 1.3 million barrels of crude out of the global market and boosting energy prices.

The dual announcements from Riyadh and Moscow pushed benchmark Brent crude above $90 a barrel in trading Tuesday afternoon, a price unseen in the market since November.

The countries’ moves likely will increase the cost for motorists at gasoline pumps and put new pressure on Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States. President Joe Biden last year warned the kingdom there would be unspecified “consequences” for partnering with Russia on cuts as Moscow wages war on Ukraine.

A battlefield video circulating online appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 tank in Ukraine.

The burning wreck of the military vehicle is seen in footage from the frontline and would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.

In the video, a vehicle with a cracked windscreen drives past as black smoke is seen rising from the roadside, although it is unclear what caused the explosion.

Britain initially supplied 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and then doubled that number to 28.

North Korea’s leader would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armoured train, to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast of Russia, where he would meet Mr Putin, reported The New York Times.

It is believed that while in Vladivostok, a port city not far from North Korea, the two leaders would discuss Kim sending Russia artillery shells and anti-tank missiles in exchange for Moscow‘s advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, according to US officials.