What did Ukraine's week of shocks look like?

What did the final days of June 2023 look like from Kyiv and the wider region? On 30 June 2023, the news cycle was still absorbing a week in which a mutiny inside Russia, a missile strike on a restaurant and an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital had all taken place within about six days.

The rebellion that ended within a day

On 24 June 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, warned that his troops would march on Moscow unless Russian military leadership met him for talks. Russian president Vladimir Putin addressed the nation and said a coup d'état attempt was under way.

As reported at the time, Wagner forces seized the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, and the group was said to have occupied that city and Voronezh as clashes occurred across both oblasts. Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev asked residents to remain indoors. In Lipetsk Oblast, authorities gave residents the same advice and closed the M4 highway to traffic; Wagner forces later entered Lipetsk. An Antonov An-26 transport plane was reportedly shot down over Voronezh Oblast, and Ka-50 helicopters of the Russian Air Force struck an oil refinery and depot in Voronezh, causing a large explosion and fire.

The episode was brief. The Wagner Group withdrew on 24 June after Prigozhin, Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko negotiated a deal to end the rebellion. Later accounts describe the terms: the criminal case against Prigozhin for armed rebellion would be closed, Wagner fighters would go to field camps, and Prigozhin himself would go to Belarus. On 27 June 2023, Lukashenko confirmed that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus in line with the agreement reached with the Russian government.

The war did not pause

While attention turned to Russia's internal crisis, the war continued. Overnight into 24 June, debris from a Russian cruise missile shot down over Kyiv damaged a 25-storey building, killing three civilians and injuring eight. The Ukrainian military said air defences destroyed 41 of 51 cruise missiles launched by Russia, along with two drones.

On 26 June, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces had recaptured the uninhabited village of Rivnopil in Donetsk Oblast, the ninth village retaken in the previous month.

The heaviest civilian toll of those days came on 27 June 2023. A Russian missile struck a restaurant in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, killing 13 civilians. At the time, 61 others were reported injured. Later accounts put the time of the strike at 19:29, at the RIA café in the centre of the city, and say four of the dead were children. A second missile reportedly hit private houses in the Bilenke district, wounding five residents.

Support from abroad

International backing continued in parallel. On 26 June, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a AU$110 million military aid package for Ukraine. On 24 June, the Australian government imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on former GRU officer Sergey Dubinsky, Russian Armed Forces colonel Sergey Muchkaev and Donbas separatist leader Leonid Kharchenko over their involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, in which 38 Australians were killed.

On 29 June 2023, former US Vice President Mike Pence made an unexpected visit to Kyiv.

What the week showed

Taken together, the dates sketch a week with three distinct strands. In Russia, an armed challenge to the military leadership flared and was settled by negotiation within a day. In Ukraine, missile attacks kept killing civilians, in the capital and in Donetsk Oblast, even as the army reported small territorial gains. Abroad, governments continued to announce aid and sanctions, and a prominent American figure travelled to Kyiv.

By 30 June 2023, the immediate drama of the rebellion had passed, but its practical consequences were visible: Prigozhin in Belarus, Wagner pulled back from the cities it had entered, and the war in Ukraine running on as before.