�* into automatically or rapidly into advances on the battlefield for the ukrainian — advances on the battlefield for the ukrainian army. no advances on the battlefield for the ukrainian army.— advances on the battlefield for the ukrainian army. no excuse to blame this on the west _ ukrainian army. no excuse to blame this on the west or— ukrainian army. no excuse to blame this on the west or on _ ukrainian army. no excuse to blame this on the west or on nato. - ukrainian army. no excuse to blame this on the west or on nato. we - ukrainian army. no excuse to blame i this on the west or on nato. we made it clear_ this on the west or on nato. we made it clear that _ this on the west or on nato. we made it clear that we — this on the west or on nato. we made it clear that we were _ this on the west or on nato. we made it clear that we were not _ it clear that we were not involved, we had _ it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing _ it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to— it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do— it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with - it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it, - it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it, thus| we had nothing to do with it, thus as part _ we had nothing to do with it, thus as part of— we had nothing to do with it, thus as part of a — we had nothing to do with it, thus as part of a struggle _ we had nothing to do with it, thus as part of a struggle within - we had nothing to do with it, thus| as part of a struggle within russia. hello, welcome to the programme. we've heard from the head of the wagner group. yevgeny prigozhin says he didn't want to topple russia's government in his rebellion over the weekend. we urge you to hear from russian president vladimir putin in the next few hours. —— we are due to hear from. we'll try to work out what it all means. remember the alleged chinese spy balloon flying over the us? the bbc has found evidence of more,

flying overjapan and taiwan. a new development in the uk's most notorious racist murder the killing of stephen lawrence. the bbc is naming a suspect. and eltonjohn closes this year's glastonbury. he did it in a record—breaking way. we have all the reaction. first, we start in russia after those extraordinary events over the weekend. in the last half hour or so, we have been told to expect statements from vladimir putin. that information coming from various news agencies, we will keep across that for you if and when he does speak, we will of course bring them to you. we have, however, already heard from the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prighozhin. in his statement, made in an audio message, he shed some light on what happened over the weekend. his aim, he says, wasn't to overthrow the government when he took mercenary soldiers up through russia. he does admit shooting down russian jets

through russia. he does admit shooting down russianjets in retaliation, he claims, for air strikes against his soldiers. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports from moscow. after a weekend of high drama, there was no sense of victory in the russian capital. the mutiny had failed, but what next for president putin? and what with the russian authorities tell the russian people about what had happened? vladimir putin said nothing today about the mutiny. he was shown discussing engineers. it is not clear when this was recorded. but yevgeny prighozhin, head of the wagner mercenaries, who has not been seen in public since saturday, the talk today about his rebellion. in an audio message, he claimed his fighters had not wanted to overthrow russia's government. it had been a protest, he said, in a way of

avoiding the destruction of the wagner group. russian officials have announced yevgeny prighozhin as a traitor, but the prime minister also blamed the west for what had happened. he said russia had faced a challenge to its stability. state tv was on message. the presenter claims that russia had united support for vladimir putin. our enemies were in ecstasy during the mutiny, she said. but at the newspaper kiosk, much more speculation about where russia is heading. even though the media

landscape here is heavily controlled by the state, some of the papers are saying things the kremlin is not. this paper says that with the russian mutiny, russia has demonstrated its vulnerability to be whole world and itself. in this newspaper because of what yevgeny prighozhin has done an unprecedented challenge to vladimir putin, he says it will have unprecedented consequences for russia. events seemed to surprise the kremlin. did two decades in power make vladimir putin complacent? shifter two decades in power make vladimir putin complacent?— putin complacent? after so long in ower, putin complacent? after so long in power. you — putin complacent? after so long in power. you lose — putin complacent? after so long in power, you lose your— putin complacent? after so long in power, you lose your sense - putin complacent? after so long in power, you lose your sense of - putin complacent? after so long in power, you lose your sense of the | power, you lose your sense of the artic, in a joint country like this when everything is in the centre and everyone is doing everything at your firm, you would have to be an incredibly brave person not to lose your marbles this way. tsine incredibly brave person not to lose your marbles this way.— incredibly brave person not to lose your marbles this way. one thing he has lona your marbles this way. one thing he has long since _ your marbles this way. one thing he has long since coming _ your marbles this way. one thing he has long since coming to _ your marbles this way. one thing he has long since coming to power - has long since coming to power as how to stay there. vladimir putin should not be written off.

in a moment, we'll hearfrom our eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford in warsaw, but first let's get the latest from our international editor, jeremy bowen, who's in kyiv. anything bad for president putin and russia good as good as far as the ukrainians are concerned, from president zelenskyy all write down through his chain of command. but what has to be remembered is that problems in russia do not translate automatically or rapidly into advances on the battlefield for the ukrainian army. since they started their offensive earlier on this month, they have recaptured a number of villages from the russians. but what they have not managed to do yet, they haven't really tried either, is to make those vital tactical breakthroughs that would be necessary if they want to change the course of the war, which is of course of the war, which is of course their objective, and natal�*s as well, the people giving them the

material support that they require. now, as for the russian army, it is still a question as to whether or not what is happening in moscow and in russia affects their ability to fight on the battlefield. the fighters of the wagner group have been ruthless and at times effective, and it is possible that without them, the russian army might lose whatever capacity it has left, not much, to manoeuvre and counter attack. and anyway, armies do not fight well if their political masters are at each other�*s threats. so for president putin, and people who support him in the kremlin the big priority has to be trying to restore his authority after the events of the weekend, and that for him right now is the biggest

challenge. we said right at the top of the show that we expect to hear statements from vladimir putin. we are keeping an eye on the themes coming through to us. whilst we wait for that, let's get the latest.— let's get the latest. this is yevgeny — let's get the latest. this is yevgeny prighozhin's - let's get the latest. this is - yevgeny prighozhin's attempts to answer, he says, a lot of questions he has been getting, but it leaves a lot of other questions unanswered, because we still do not know where he is, we do not know if he is in belarus, as have been suggested over the weekend, but he did leave a bit of a hint, because he said it was alexander lukashenko, the belarusian president, who had intervened to resolve the crisis over the weekend. now, as to what caused that crisis, well, yevgeny prighozhin was trying to make very clear that he was not attempting to overthrow the elected authorities of russia. this was not authorities of russia. this was not a challenge he was trying to make clear to vladimir putin himself. he

faced all of it as a fight with the russian defence ministry, the result of a huge feud that has been brewing for a long time between him and the defence minister, and he claims it was triggered, this much on moscow, when the russian defence ministry fired on positions of his wagner group inside ukraine, we have never seen any proof of that. now, though he is trying to say that this was not a challenge to president putin, i have to say that the very fact of this match and the details of what happened, they have, i think, this match and the details of what happened, they have, ithink, dented the authority of vladimir putin. he is president who makes control and stability has bywords, and those of been challenged very directly by what happened over the weekend. so i think it is important that today we discovered that the criminal charges against yevgeny prighozhin are still in force. there is still a case out against him, which is potentially why he is lying low, potentially why we still do not know an awful lot, including where exactly he is.

we are getting these pictures in, just to explain, from an agency, so we do not have complete control over them, but at the moment, you can see that as a frozen image. we are going tojust keep across that as a frozen image. we are going to just keep across that feed and see if anything starts happening, because we have been warned to expect some statements from vladimir putin in the hours ahead. and we have also had from afp news agency saying that the leader of belarus is also expected to make an address very soon. the court there is through the telegram channel close to the president, so telegram is a messaging app, saw through that app, a source close to the presidency and we are expecting to hear from the leader of belarus. but we do now have vladimir putin speaking on the

feed coming in, let's take a listen. this is to confirm, these are the pictures of vladimir putin we were told to expect his statements, speaking right now. we do not have a live english translation of this. we have been told this is a tape replay, we were told to expect some statements, but we do not have an english live translation on this, so we are working on that. we are

getting some wins out of reuters on it, very brief so far, vladimir putin same society as consolidated, so the reuters news agency getting that translation, and as those lines come through in dribs and drabs, we will bring them to you, because this is clearly a very significant statement, a statement on state tv in russia. many people have been waiting throughout the weekend, and of course throughout the day to day to hear from of course throughout the day to day to hearfrom vladimir putin, to hear his reaction since the events of the weekend. we want to know exactly how he is now framing them. , because

only fraser's over the weekend was meting out punishment and betrayal. we know that the head of the wagner group spoke earlier saying that he turned his trips around but never intended to topple vladimir putin, never intended to topple the government, his targets were clear, it was the military leadership that he was unhappy with, he was unhappy with their decision—making, and with their performance and with their supplies to the wagner group, and he said he had to make his point. he did admit shooting down some russian armed helicopters, but then we don't know where he is. we know that the audio message was released, but we don't have any video of yevgeny prighozhin. these are the statements that we are watching right now. it

is a tape replay of putin. we are getting a few more details now about what he is actually saying. he says, all necessary decisions to neutralise the threat were taken at the very beginning. the reason would not have been suppressed in any way. excuse me, i willjust correct that. the mutiny would have been suppressed anyway. organisers realised their actions were criminal. so we have for the first time vladimir putin addressing what happened, address and we mutiny, in his words, and this is what he said about it.

are also patriots, so some concession, it seems. most of the wagner group are also patriots. so clearly not a straightforward message from vladimir putin. there is some nuance going on here. he thanks, actually, the commanders and soldiers of the wagner group who avoided bloodshed, and that was yevgeny prighozhin's message as well, he said he turned his group around to avoid bloodshed, to avoid russian blood being spilled, and vladimir putin thanks the commanders and soldiers of the wagner group who avoided bloodshed. so some significant concessions, it would

appear. let's see what other lines are coming through. again, we will bring a bit more from my colleague, just as that message ends there. as we was those feeds there from russia, what we will do is work on that translation into english, so we will be able to listen to it all, but just as that was playing will be able to listen to it all, butjust as that was playing out, my colleague has been sending through some lines of translation. we have a couple more, one more significant one to bring you. he said, they wanted russia to lose and our society to drown in blood, but they miscalculated. i thank all of our security services. those who stayed loyal to their oath, the pilot who died. this is after the other line from my colleague here, saying that vladimir putin was saying all necessary decisions to neutralise a threat were taken at the very beginning, the mutiny would have been suppressed anyway, and

organisers realised their actions were criminal. so some really interesting lines, and they are still coming, write us vladimir putin said this. i promise those of wagner and want to go back to belarus, i will keep my promise. so we want to die just command a lot to pick through, and i'm pleased to say we are going to do exactly that now. we can speak to sergey radchenko, professor of international relations atjohns hopkins university. thank you forjoining us. little bits of translations, we will not get a complete picture of what he has said for a few minutes, but what is your immediate reaction to what you're hearing from vladimir putin? i did not hear anything remarkably new in this message. it seems like he came down pretty hard on yevgeny prighozhin, and it seems like wagner

will not be able to operate in russia. that is what i heard. i did not hear the entire message. in that kind of connects to what yevgeny prighozhin was saying earlier today, about wagner having to relocate to belarus, which of course raises interesting questions. but, yes, we do have at the moment this very strange love hate triangle with vladimir putin, yevgeny prighozhin and andrew lukashenko, it'll be interesting to see where this leads. what do you make of the fact he is having to make this statement at all? . , ., , , all? clearly putin has been under some stress. _ all? clearly putin has been under some stress, this _ all? clearly putin has been under some stress, this was _ all? clearly putin has been under some stress, this was an - some stress, this was an unprecedented challenge to his authority, the fact that troops marked almost 200 kilometres from moscow, that is where they turned around, that simply could not be tolerated in putin's system. this kind of challenge was completely unprecedented, therefore he had to do something, had to come down hard, so he declared yevgeny prighozhin a

traitor, and he said that yevgeny prighozhin had stabbed him in the back. now, what is interesting is that lukashenko interfered and effectively rescued yevgeny prighozhin, and is now seemingly bringing him to belarus, of course that has not been confirmed, we have not seen yevgeny prighozhin on the ground belarus, but it does... now lukashenko seems like he is saving russia from a bloodbath, from a civil war, what does that tell us about lukashenko? so that is an interesting position of lukashenko and how he emerges from this situation. putin i think emerges weakened, and that statement and his activity over the last 2a hours and they confirmed that. activity over the last 24 hours and they confirmed that.— activity over the last 24 hours and they confirmed that. interesting. to our oint they confirmed that. interesting. to your point there. — they confirmed that. interesting. to your point there, i _ they confirmed that. interesting. to your point there, ithink— they confirmed that. interesting. to your point there, i think this - your point there, i think this reinforces it. we have another line of translation from my colleague at

the bbc, causing vladimir putin as saying this. i thank lukashenko for his efforts to resolve the situation peacefully, but it was society's unity that played the decisive role. so your reaction to that? on the one hand, giving him a little bit of credit where i think he thinks credit where i think he thinks credit is due, but fundamentally present the russian people. exactly. one word he — present the russian people. exactly. one word he used _ present the russian people. exactly. one word he used as _ present the russian people. exactly. one word he used as a _ present the russian people. exactly. one word he used as a word - present the russian people. exactly. one word he used as a word that - present the russian people. exactly. one word he used as a word that has no english translation. it means upheaval, he is basically scaring... there is a russian collective kind of fear of this people, and putin is playing on the sphere, saying there could be another people, there could be a civil war, and so it is great that the society came around me and united around me, and that is where he talks about russian unity. so he is playing on the russian fears of uncertainty, he is playing on the fear of the civil war, in order to

try to shore up his authority, but there is no question that the authority has been badly harmed. let's explore exactly that idea, then, because so much of his power has been based on this idea of strength and attraction command almost the idea that there isn't any option other than him or chaos. now we have seen a little bit of chaos here, does that argument disintegrate, or is there still a lot more to go? he disintegrate, or is there still a lot more to go?— disintegrate, or is there still a lot more to go? he is still trying to -la lot more to go? he is still trying to play on _ lot more to go? he is still trying to play on the — lot more to go? he is still trying to play on the same _ lot more to go? he is still trying to play on the same theme. - lot more to go? he is still trying to play on the same theme. he | to play on the same theme. he is saying, if it were not for me, you have chaos every day, and that is the reference to the 19905. whether this is sustainable over the longer term is a difficult question, because i think eventually the russian people will have to say, well, excuse me, you were supposed to guarantee stability, economic prosperity, and what we have now is an actual and mutiny, that is unheard of. not entirely unheard of in the long span of russian history,

but certainly in recent times, and i think that will lead to very difficult questions about vladimir putin's rule. i difficult questions about vladimir putin's rute— putin's rule. i want to get your thou~hts putin's rule. i want to get your thoughts now— putin's rule. i want to get your thoughts now and _ putin's rule. i want to get your thoughts now and where - putin's rule. i want to get your thoughts now and where this l putin's rule. i want to get your i thoughts now and where this was putin's rule. i want to get your - thoughts now and where this was the wagner group. one more line of translation. vladimir putin saint, wagner mutineers cannotjoin the army or go to belarus —— vladimir putin saying, wagner mutineers can join the army or go to belarus. this is art of join the army or go to belarus. this is part of his _ join the army or go to belarus. ti 3 is part of his original plan, the idea was to integrate that. this is why yevgeny prighozhin struck out because he did not want to be involved in the ministry of defence. putin is saying those who want to join the minister of defence can remain in russia and do so, the rest can go to belarus. i see this as a strange concession by putin that does his weakness, ie, what does

that show about his ability to control the situation? we are used to thinking of vladimir putin as somebody who is at least able to control his own minions. ok, he is no longer able to prosecute a war in ukraine, but at least that is not —— thatis ukraine, but at least that is not —— that is clear, but only stick and control his own minions. and of course, that leaves lots of questions. what will they do in belarus? well wagner operate from under lukashenko's when? will we access to russian equipment? will we go to africa, back to ukraine? lots of unanswered questions.- go to africa, back to ukraine? lots of unanswered questions. where does this leave yevgeny _ of unanswered questions. where does this leave yevgeny prighozhin - of unanswered questions. where does this leave yevgeny prighozhin now, i i this leave yevgeny prighozhin now, i do not mean geographically, we do not know that at the moment, but given everything you know of vladimir putin's pattern of behaviour, what do you think will be his decision? if behaviour, what do you think will be his decision?— his decision? if we have learned an hint his decision? if we have learned anything about _ his decision? if we have learned anything about putin _ his decision? if we have learned anything about putin over- his decision? if we have learned anything about putin over the i his decision? if we have learned i anything about putin over the time that he has been in power, it is

that he has been in power, it is that he has been in power, it is that he does not accept treason. he accepts incompetence, that is ok, he can... you could be so incompetent, fairly stupid, and still serve vladimir putin, and many have done, but he does not accept treason, and those who have crossed and in this way have tended to pay the price. the question is, will he be able to reach yevgeny prighozhin, who is basically under the protection of lukashenko? that is where this relationship is a little unclear. if i were yevgeny prighozhin, i would be concerned about my future, and would not have any expectations about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinatina . about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinating. thank _ about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinating. thank you _ about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinating. thank you very - about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinating. thank you very much - about my life expectancy. absolutely fascinating. thank you very much for| fascinating. thank you very much for joining us, and for standing by and listening to that statement and picking through each bit as it came out. we really appreciate your time and your expertise. thank you very much. . ~ and your expertise. thank you very much. . ,, i. and your expertise. thank you very much-_ just _ and your expertise. thank you very much._ just before - and your expertise. thank you very much._ just before we i and your expertise. thank you very i much._ just before we take much. thank you. just before we take a short break. — much. thank you. just before we take a short break. i— much. thank you. just before we take a short break, i want _ much. thank you. just before we take a short break, i want to _ much. thank you. just before we take a short break, i want to reiterate - a short break, i want to reiterate what we have heard in the last 20 minutes or so. we were given a short

notice that we would expect some statements from vladimir putin, this would be the first time have heard from him since the weekend, since the decision by the wagner group to effectively turnaround and head back to their bases. all throughout the day, there was a silence from vladimir putin on this issue, and what happened, and suddenly we got one that we would hear from him, and we did. he spoke on state tv in russia, in russian obviously, we did not have the direct english translation at the time, we are working on that when we get it, we will bring it to you, but we had my colleagues it was on the bbc translating, and the news agency reuters and such, translating bits and snippets of what he said as he went along. some of the highlights include, from that statement, he said that all necessary decisions to neutralise the threat was taken at the very beginning, and he said the

mutiny would have been suppressed anyway, and the organisers realised their actions were criminal. he also thanked the commanders and soldiers of the wagner group, who avoided bloodshed, and we had from the head of the wagner group that that was his intention in turning around. plenty more to pick through, we will bring you those little slimes from vladimir putin. this is bbc news. —— those latest lines from vladimir putin. hello. after all of the heat and the humidity of the weekend, a fresher story to take us through the week ahead. many areas did see some heavy thunderstorms overnight sunday, but to the south of the uk many spots are still staying stubbornly dry. the cracked ground here in hampshire. in terms of any meaningful rain for southernmost counties of england, perhaps later on this week there is something to come.

i'll show you that in a moment. here we are, though, this monday with high pressure to the south of the uk, low pressure pulling away to the northeast. a few showers to come through the remainder of the day across the northern half of the uk. most of them fading out, though, once the sun begins to set. central and eastern areas staying clear overnight. towards the west, a bit more cloud arriving, the breeze lifting a little. a cooler night than last night. in many spots last night temperatures didn't get out of the mid—teens. they will be lower tonight, perhaps as low as six degrees somewhere in eastern scotland. and then through tuesday, an area of low pressure tries to approach from the atlantic, feeding in a lot of high cloud, turning sunshine hazy. some rain into northern england, northern ireland and scotland as we go into the afternoon. to the south, bright skies and highs of 21, 22 degrees, 16 or 17 for northern scotland. and then overnight and into wednesday, we really start to pull in some humidity from the south. quite a muggy start to wednesday, a warmer night again — tuesday night.

and then for wednesday, daytime, quite a lot of cloud around, some heavier and more persistent rain getting into scotland, northern england, and then some showers potentially running across eastern england that could at times be heavy and thunder. and you can see the temperatures here have come back up again up into the mid 20s, 25 degrees, 17, 18 across most of scotland and northern ireland. and then it's what this trailing weather front does on thursday that is the biggest question, possibly, in ourforecast for the week ahead. will it stick around close to the southeast of the uk, bringing some much needed rain here, or will it whisk away a little faster? current thinking has it perhaps bringing a decent amount of rain to the south east of england on thursday, 10—15 millimetres for some areas. but as we look at our forecast day on day, that is just changing a little. so we will firm that up closer to the time for you. but as you can see, towards the end of the week, we move back into that fresher feeling air.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. you're watching the context on bbc news. new the context on bbc news. evidence of china's spir. programme new evidence of china's spiralling programme putting flights overjapan and taiwan has been discovered by dc panorama —— spy balloon programme has been discovered by bbc panorama.