Former US Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet with Zelenskyy, NBC News reported.

Running to be the Republican party’s electoral nomination in the 2024 presidential election, Pence told NBC News, visiting Ukraine “just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”

Pence, a vocal Putin critic, is the first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Zelenskyy during the campaign.

Russia’s ambassador to Switzerland said Moscow could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it enforced sanctions.

In an interview with Le Temps newspaper published on Thursday, Sergey Garmonin said Russia would not accept that Switzerland, which traditionally has served as a location for high-level talks between feuding powers, host a peace summit.

“Swiss representation and mediation are out of the question,” Garmonin said.

“Switzerland has unfortunately lost its status as a neutral state and can no longer act as a mediator or as a representative of interests.”

On June 15, Zelenskyy invited Switzerland to host a global peace summit on the conflict and suggested that Bern could act as a mediator.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 491 of the war.

KEEP READING

• China unlikely to be worried by ‘weaker Putin’ post Wagner revolt
• Ukraine says suspect directed Russia missile attack in Kramatorsk
• As Wagner troops marched on Moscow, Ukraine made further gains
• What future awaits Russia’s Wagner army and its boss, Prigozhin?

At least two people were killed and two others injured during a Russian attack on a “point of invisibility” shelter in Kherson, the local governor reported.

On Telegram, Olexsandr Prokudin wrote, “Another Russian terrorist attack took the lives of peaceful Kherson residents.

“In the afternoon, the occupiers shelled the ‘Point of Invincibility’ in Kherson. Terrorists struck a place where civilians had come to receive humanitarian aid.

“Two townspeople died, two others are in the hospital in a moderate condition,” he said.

The Kremlin says it hoped that US President Joe Biden had meant to say Ukraine rather than Iraq when he made a verbal slip-up on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Biden was asked if a Wagner rebellion had weakened Putin.

“It’s hard to tell, really. But he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq. He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” Biden had said.

Asked to comment on Biden’s slip-up, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We are interested in this, we are monitoring the situation very carefully, and we hope that Mr President had Ukraine in mind during yesterday’s statement.”

European Union leaders gathered to discuss the aborted Wagner mutiny and debate their long-term role in bolstering Ukraine’s security.

“We have to prepare ourselves that this can last for a long time,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters at a summit in Brussels.

“It’s important that we consult and say we’re ready to hold on for the long term, with financial and humanitarian support that’s necessary for Ukraine but also when it comes to weapons,” he said.

Several European leaders said they would be keeping a close eye on Belarus, where Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been exiled.

Others also said the mutiny had weakened Putin, but it did not mean the West could relax.

“A weakened Putin is a greater danger,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

“An unstable Russia becomes also a risk.”

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been told that his mercenary forces would no longer fight in Ukraine after he refused to sign contracts to bring them under the Russian defence ministry, a senior lawmaker said.

Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, who chairs the lower house of parliament’s defence committee, said the trigger for Saturday’s mutiny was Prigozhin’s disagreement with a demand by the defence ministry that his group sign contracts.

“As you know, a few days before the attempted mutiny, the defence ministry said that all formations performing combat tasks must sign contracts with the defence ministry,” said Kartapolov.

“Everyone started to implement this decision … everyone except Mr Prigozhin.”

Kartapolov added that after Prigozhin’s refusal to sign the contracts, he had been told that his mercenaries would no longer fight in Ukraine and therefore would not receive state money.

Sweden’s prime minister aims to talk to his Hungarian counterpart on Thursday after reports that Budapest would delay the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership.

“I have earlier been informed that they don’t plan to delay anything about the Swedish NATO membership and I will surely get the chance to exchange a few words with Viktor Orban here today,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

“I just want to discuss with him and ask him if earlier messages are still valid,” he told reporters in Brussels.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence says two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 Ukrainian military officers were killed in a missile strike in Kramatorsk on Tuesday, the Russian RIA news agency reports.

Ukrainian officials have said 12 people were killed and 60 hurt when a Russian missile slammed into a crowded restaurant in the city.

Asked about the strike, Russia said it attacked only military targets, not civilians, adding that a temporary Ukrainian army command post had been hit.

Ukraine has begun nuclear disaster response drills near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, regional officials say.

Similar exercises started in the neighbouring Kherson region, its governor, Oleksander Prokudin, said.

“The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he said on Telegram, urging residents to remain calm.

Prokudin said officials and civil defence forces were working jointly on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, including how to inform and evacuate people.

On Thursday, the Kremlin said there was a constant threat of “provocations” from the Ukrainian side at the plant.

The Kremlin declined to answer questions about Russian General Sergey Surovikin, whose status and location are unknown since the Wagner Group’s aborted rebellion.

Asked by reporters if the Kremlin could clarify the situation with Surovikin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, unfortunately not.

“So I recommend that you contact the defence ministry; this is its prerogative.”

When a reporter asked if Putin still continued to trust Surovikin, Peskov said: “He is the supreme commander-in-chief and he works with the defence minister and with the chief of the General Staff.”

Nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, Surovikin has been absent from view since Saturday, when he appeared in a video appealing to the Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Hungary’s parliament has rejected a proposal to schedule a vote on the certification of Sweden’s NATO membership for next week, a politician from the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party said.

Agnes Vadai told the Reuters news agency that lawmakers of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties did not support putting the vote on the agenda for next week’s plenary session.

She said it was “obvious” Fidesz would decide when to schedule the vote depending on Turkey’s stance.

“(Prime Minister) Viktor Orban moves in tandem with (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan … ignoring Hungarian sovereignty and … breaking the unity of NATO,” she said.

“As it stands today, there won’t be a ratification before the NATO summit.”

Sweden is expecting to join the military alliance by the July 11-12 NATO summit in Lithuania.

The Kremlin says there was a constant threat of “provocations” from the Ukrainian side regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said inspectors had recently been at the site to check on the safety of the plant.

The UN atomic energy agency has frequently appealed to both sides to avoid shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

The Kremlin says its data suggests there is continued strong support among Russians for the “special military operation” in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a survey suggesting an equal number of people supported negotiations to end the conflict to those who favoured continuing it.

“The data we have show something quite different – dominant support for the special military operation and for the president,” said Peskov.

“The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president,” Peskov said.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) says Wagner Group fighters shot down Russian military helicopters and an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command post aircraft during their rebellion.

In its daily briefing, the MoD said, “These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine.

“The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations. In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force.”

The update added that the loss of aircraft would “likely undermine Russia’s ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the path to victory is “difficult” and there is no timeframe on when Ukraine will reach its goal.

On Twitter, Zelenskyy wrote, “We have to realise that the path to our victory is difficult. And now, no one can say when we will complete it. But when the goal is clear and fair, it does not matter how thorny the path to this goal is. Ukraine will walk this path to victory! And this is no longer a dream – it is a reality.”

Russia has opened a criminal case against 160 foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, the Russian Tass news agency reported, citing the investigative committee.

A report by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said, “As a result of interaction with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and other operational services, evidence of the participation of mercenaries from Georgia, the United States, Latvia, Sweden and other states has been collected. Currently, 160 foreigners from 33 countries are being prosecuted.”

The committee added that investigations of those involved in recruitment and the participation of mercenaries on the side of the Ukrainian forces are continuing.

Ukraine has arrested a man suspected of committing treason by helping Russia carry out a missile attack on a busy restaurant that killed 12 people in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.

The prosecutor general’s office said an employee at a local gas transportation company helped Moscow target the restaurant by filming cars with military licence plates in its parking lot and sending the footage to Russian special services.

Local officials said 12 people were killed and 60 hurt when a Russian missile hit the restaurant on Tuesday evening.

In President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s nightly video message, he wrote: “Anyone who helps Russian terrorists destroy lives deserves the maximum punishment.”

After Warsaw announced it is tightening security following the presence of Wagner Group fighters in Belarus, an official said it expects the European Union to help fund these measures.

On Wednesday, the leader of Poland’s ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said temporary and permanent steps to strengthen the border, including boosting the presence of security forces and increasing fortifications, would be taken.

Wagner’s presence in Belarus could mean “a new phase of hybrid warfare, a phase much more difficult than the one we have dealt with so far,” Kaczynski added.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski was asked on Thursday if Brussels should help Warsaw pay for such measures, and said, “Poland expects it.

“European solidarity means supporting countries threatened with destabilisation,” he told public radio.

“These safeguards need to be increased.”