TOP HEADLINES

• A missile that hit an apartment block in Ukraine's Lviv killed four people and injured another nine, in what the city's mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since the start of the Russian offensive. "An apartment building was damaged as a result of the Russian missile attack," Ukraine's Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, adding that rescuers were working to reach those still trapped under rubble.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed a "tangible response" following the Russian missile strike. "Consequences of the night attack by Russian terrorists," he wrote alongside a Telegram video post showing a ruined building. "Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead... There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one."

• President Zelenskyy arrived in Bulgaria, a major arms maker and ally, for talks that are to include Kyiv's push to join NATO. Zelenskyy said on the agenda are "defence support, Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, the NATO summit, security guarantees and the implementation of the Peace Formula." The Kremlin criticized the visit saying the Ukrainian leader was trying to "drag" other countries into the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv.

• The mutinous head of Russia's Wagner group is no longer in Belarus and it is not clear if his fighters will move there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, raising questions about the deal that ended last month's revolt. But Lukashenko, who brokered the deal, said Prigozhin was now in St Petersburg or may have moved on to Moscow. Lukashenko also said the question of Wagner units relocating to Belarus had not been resolved, and would depend on decisions by Russia and by Wagner.

• Lukashenko said he was ready to mediate Ukraine peace talks if Moscow and Kyiv deem it necessary, the TASS news agency reported. He said talks on Ukraine had hit a dead end but there was still a chance of a way out.

• Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv's planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defenses in occupied areas including with mines, President Zelenskyy said in a TV interview to CNN. Zelensky revealed that he had sought to begin the counteroffensive against Russia "much earlier" than its actual start in early June. 

• Two police officers were wounded in a Kyiv district court as a man who was brought to attend a hearing blew himself up, officials said. There were at least two explosions at Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi district court. Authorities did not say that the blasts were linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

• UN observers appealed for greater access to Europe's largest nuclear plant, after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over a possible "catastrophic" act of sabotage at the Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine. Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of planning "provocations" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, raising alarm over risks of a radioactive disaster.

IN DETAIL

Wagner head no longer in Belarus, says Lukashenko

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia and none of the mercenary group's fighters have set up in Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said, casting doubt on a Kremlin deal to end their insurrection.

"As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in Saint Petersburg... He is not in Belarus," Lukashenko told reporters.

Speaking in the presidential palace in Minsk, Lukashenko said he knew "for sure" that Prigozhin was a free man, adding: "I spoke to him on the phone yesterday."

Lukashenko said that Wagner members had not set up a base in Belarus yet, despite an offer from the Kremlin for those who took part in the failed mutiny to do so. 

"At the moment the question of their transfer and set-up has not been decided," Lukashenko said. 

Prigozhin launched a mutiny against Russia's military leadership on June 23 and sent an armed column towards Moscow in the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's leadership.

Since then, Russian authorities have shut down or raided Prigozhin's businesses.

Images broadcast by Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin's residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the grounds, reportedly on June 25.

The images showed police discovering wads of rubles and dollars, gold ingots, assault weapons, a closet full of wigs and several passports in Prigozhin's name but with photos of different people.

Lukashenko said he was "not worried or concerned" about hosting Wagner troops in his country and said they could instead be an asset.

"I do not think that Wagner will rise up and turn its guns against the Belarusian state," he said. "If we need to activate these units, we will activate them immediately and their experience will be very much appreciated."

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