Vladimir Putin is supplying the RussianNational Guard with heavy weaponry to “ensure regime security” after the Wagner Group mutiny, British defence chiefs said on Tuesday.
They believe it is being better equipped to deal with “internal security threats” after it was seen to have failed to intervene against the aborted revolt led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “On 4 August 2023, President Putin signed into law a measure which will allow Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard, to be equipped with heavy weaponry.
“A sprawling organisation of up to 200,000 frontline personnel, Rosgvardia was created in its modern form in 2016 and is led by Putin’s former bodyguard Viktor Zolotov. The decision to strengthen the force follows the abortive Wagner mutiny of June 2023.”
The briefing added: “Despite Zolotov’s claim that his force performed ‘excellently’ during the mutiny, there is no evidence that Rosgvardia carried out any effective action against Wagner: exactly the sort of internal security threat it was designed to repress.
“With Zolotov previously suggesting that heavy equipment should include artillery and attack helicopters, the move suggests that the Kremlin is doubling down on resourcing Rosgvardia as one of the key organisations to ensure regime security.”
In Ukraine, Russian missiles struck the centre of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk province, twice on Monday night killing eight people, including five civilians, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
The second missile hit the Ukraine-controlled town near the frontline 40 minutes after the first, the governor said. It killed and injured first responders, according to local reports.
Two rescuers and one military person were among the dead. Nine policemen and one military person were wounded, but most of the 31 injured were civilians, including a member of the local city council, Ukrainian officials said.
Kateryna, a 58-year-old resident of Pokrovsk, was at home when she heard the first blast and thought that the attack spared her. She even told someone who called to check on her that she was alright but at this moment the place was hit for the second time.
"That’s it, bang – and that’s all. A flame filled up my eyes. I fell down on the floor, on the ground. My eyes (hurt) a lot…," said Kateryna, pointing at multiple scratches around her eyes. She had bandages on her forehead.
The footage from the town showed rescuers going through the rubble, a wreckage of a car and an apartment building with torn down balconies.
Another resident, 75-year-old Lidia, said she was also on the phone at the moment of the second blast. She had picked up from the floor a torn white curtain covered with broken glass.
"Suddenly this flew out and wrapped me up. Then the window fell on me," she said sitting on her sofa.
"My back has cuts. I just got back from the hospital… My knee and my thigh have cuts. I had glass here," she said pointing at her head.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, reported two more civilian victims of Russian strikes in Kruhliakivka village in the Kharkiv region.
A 45-year-old woman and a man around 60 were killed and five people were injured, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
