Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin ‘buying time’ to strike back at Wagner chief Prigozhin, says US

Russian president Vladimir Putin is the “ultimate apostle of payback” and is buying time to strike back against Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prighozin, CIA director William Burns said. The Wagner mutiny last month was one of the toughest challenges to the Kremlin in decades and exposed “some of the significant weaknesses in a system that Putin has built”, Mr Burns said. “Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold,” he said at the Aspen Security Forum 2023. “In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution. “If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster.” Meanwhile, the US has hit nearly 120 people and entities with new Russia-related sanctions, designed to block its access to electronics and battlefield supplies. Russia‘s embassy in Washington denounced the sanctions as part of “endless attacks” by Joe Biden’s administration “in the context of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against our country”. Elsewhere, US-supplied cluster munitions are in the Ukrainian military’s hands and are being deployed, John Kirby said. Read More Aftermath of Russian missile attack on Odesa captured in bodycam footage Russians against Ukraine war should spy for the UK, MI6 boss says In Ukraine, a family's ordeal to identify and honor a veteran killed in Bucha ends after 16 months South African leader says that arresting Putin if he comes to Johannesburg next month would be 'war'