hello. great to have you with us. vladimir putin makes his first public comments after the wagner mercenary group staged an armed mutiny, then abandoned it, over the weekend. in a five—minute speech, mr putin claimed russian society had rallied around his leadership. the rebellion on saturday was led by wagner's head, yevgeny prigozhin. it all ended after a deal purportedly brokered by belarusian president alexander lukashenko. putin reaffirmed his promise to allow wagner troops to either continue in the russian army or go to belarus as part of that agreement. translation: we knew and we know that the _ overwhelming majority of the fighters and commanders of the wagner group are also patriots of russia, devoted to their nation and the state. they proved this with their courage on the battlefield, liberating donbas and novorossiya. they tried to be used in darkness against their brothers in arms with whom they fought together for the country and its future.

following the address, putin held a meeting with his security officials, including defence minister sergei shoigu. putin made no mention of wagner boss yevgeny prigozhin by name. prighozhin, who was thought to be in belarus but whose whereabouts are currently unknown, is claiming the rebellion wasn't meant to overthrow the russian government. translation: after just one - day, we had only 200 kilometres left to moscow. we entered rostov city and fully took it under our control. it was peaceful and civilians were happy to see us. we demonstrated a masterclass of what the 24th of february 2022 should have looked like. we did not aim to overthrow the existing regime, it was said many times, we turned back not to spill the blood of russian soldiers. earlier, i spoke with william courtney, former us ambassador and special assistant to the president for russia, ukraine, and eurasia. if we look at what vladimir putin said today in his

comments he said he would keep his promise to let wagner forces either go to belarus orjoin the russian army. he did not name yevgeny prigozhin. we don't know the exact whereabouts of prigozhin either. what do you think is going to happen to the wagner mercenary group's head? it appears that president putin has come under greater pressure partly for appearing to be weak in resolving this crisis and partly because prigozhin�*s forces really got pretty close to moscow. so i think now the vitriol in president putin's speech suggests that he may have backtracked on a promise he made to yevgeny prigozhin that he could go to belarus. putin saying he'll allow wagner forces, troops to go there, but he doesn't say anything about prigozhin. putin never mentions names of key opponents, he never mentions alexei

navalny�*s name and now of course prigozhin. so this suggests that putin really is worried. so does that mean that you think prigozhin will have to pay some sort of price for this mutiny? it's unclear, it will depend in part if prigozhin is still in russia and if he's under control of security services than president putin's claim today that leaders of the mutiny will be brought to justice, that could well take place, but if prigozhin is already in belarus and if some of his troops are there, he could have a little mini army, a praetorian guard there, and be an independent actor which could be troublesome for the kremlin and make putin look weaker again after talking about bringing him tojustice, or the leaders of wagner tojustice. so partly it will depend on where prigozhin got

to, did he get to belarus or not. do you see the chance that he could face another challenge if you have wagner forces in russia itself? yes, it could be. in part because we saw the popularity of the outpouring of public support for prigozhin and his troops in rostov—on—don and other places so this must have come as a shock to the kremlin as well, so we're likely to see other potential opponents to president putin reassess their chances for challenging the government and again, if prigozhin is in belarus he could also be calling for and taking steps to try to challenge putin again. what about for president putin himself? we didn't see any shake—up in his cabinet, particularly addressing his defence minister. why do you think that is? it may be a little too soon to tell, so as you'll recall, in august

1991 there was a failed attempt, a push or coup against mikhail gorbachev but then four months later, gorbachev, even though he survived that attempt, he was out of office and the soviet union collapsed. so i wouldn't be surprised if again we're going to see some effects of this activity over a number of months with the kremlin probably ending up being less popular than it was before this attempt. meanwhile, we saw ukrainian president zelensky visiting troops today. how do you think we'll see him respond? well, the ukrainians haven't really launched the full—scale counteroffensive yet. they've been conducting probing attacks to look for weak points in the russian frontlines, but now, after this confusion, there could be further weaknesses or gaps in the russian frontlines so i imagine the ukrainians will do some more

probing attacks but this is certainly good for ukrainian military prospects. they could have some pretty sensational attacks if some of the russian forces melt away and that is a risk that the kremlin�*s probably worried a lot about. but ambassador, wouldn't this be an opportunity for ukraine to go bigger and bolder with this counteroffensive, if there is some perceived weakness with russian forces? yes, that's quite possible. it will depend on where they see the weakness. the main goalfor ukraine additionally is to break the land bridge from donbas down to crimea which is a crucial military supply land and then they will try to take more area that russians occupy but if the ukrainians can get to close off the land bridge, that will be a huge success. now, though, they may

be thinking they have other targets. so far the west hasn't really proclaimed victory as the goal whereas zelensky has. it's possibly now the west is also going to think that victory may be a suitable goal. so what do you expect to see next then from the us? i think the us will continue supplying equipment, will continue to rally with its allies and make sure they have what they need but the key issue now is how the ukrainians perform in their counteroffensive and more success there, the more likely the west is going to feel emboldened and perhaps provide even more military equipment. ambassador, thank you so much forjoining us with your insights tonight. i also spoke to democrat congressman raja krishnamoorthi, who serves on the house committee on intelligence, about putin's comments and this weekend's developments in russia.

great have you back on the show, thanks forjoining us. if we look at what vladimir putin said in his address earlier today, he said all necessary steps were taken at the start of the mutiny and it would have been suppressed anyway. you sit on the intelligence committee, is that true? was the kremlin in control the entire time? i haven't seen any evidence to suggest that one way or the other things were under control. it's really unusual for a military convoy to be travelling hundreds of miles down a highway unchallenged in russia and for them to have taken over the military headquarters at rostov—on—don, just maybe betrays a little bit of the disingenuousness of mr putin's statement. he also said he would keep his promise to the wagner group who wanted to to go to belarus.

do you think that the instability we witnessed over the weekend in russia is over or just beginning? i think it is still an unstable situation, i don't think this feud is over. i don't think that whatever understanding he announced the other day is somehow a resolution. on the one hand, prigozhin sees putin and the ministry of defence with blood on their hands because they did kill a number of wagner group mercenaries in ukraine and on the other hand prigozhin just staged a rebellion and so i don't think that putin is going to be viewed as the same strong person that he was a couple of days ago today because prigozhin is still alive and well, and i think that he has thousands of people in russia who still pledge their loyalty to prigozhin. the eu's foreign policy chief

argued what you said today. he said that the ukraine what is cracking russia. do you think this is a window of opportunity for ukraine's allies to capitalise or do you worry we could see the russian president further consolidate power, maybe even escalate the conflict further? possibly. so we have to monitor the situation very closely in concert with our allies and friends and partners. that being said, the wagner forces were most effective component of the russian military forces in ukraine so the extent they are somehow disengaging from that conflict weakens the overall effectiveness of the russian military and then secondly, vladimir putin is more focused on his own internal position. he's trying to stabilise that. and so, in some ways what has happened over the weekend distracts him from other matters so this could provide an opening for ukrainian forces to impress any advantages they

may have on the battlefield. what should the west and the us do this is a window of opportunity? i think that we should continue to monitor it closely, the situation closely, continue to provide intelligence to the ukrainians with regard to the situation and then continue to step up and help the ukrainians in every way and take advantage of any opening this might provide although at the end of the day this is not an easy situation in ukraine for the ukrainians to kind of capitalise in a big way right now. president biden has been commenting today on what happened. this is what he said. we had to make sure we gave putin no excuse to blame this on the west or to blame this on nato. we made clear we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it. this was part of struggle within the russian system.

again, sitting on the intelligence committee, did the us anticipate this happening? i can't get into classified information but suffice it to say that there were noises for months, very public ones from prigozhin, about the feuding that was escalating in its tone and its tenor with russian defence ministry officials including sergei shoigu as well as chief of staff gerasimov of the russian military, but the most damning thing that was set on television the other day was that he questioned the motives of the whole russian invasion of ukraine and said it was done for a profit motive, it wasn't deliberate russian speaking people in ukraine. ——

to liberate. that was perhaps maybe the most damaging thing that mr prigozhin has done publicly and would suggest a big rift. i want to ask you about politics here in the us as well. president biden is touting his bidenomics and infrastructure agenda this week. m2 billion was announced for high—speed internet access. here's what he said about it. it is not enough to have access, you need affordability. that is when i worked with internet service providers. it is called the affordable connectivity programme. it is helping i9 connectivity programme. it is helping 19 million families save around $30 a month on the internet bills and some save a lot more. do you think this is enough to bring broadband to everyone by the president's goal which is the year 2030? i think it would be a very strong step in the right direction. we'll see if it's enough in the weeks and months to come

but basically what we learned during the pandemic is that internet connectivity is almost like as important as running water or electricity. children can't learn, people can't remote work unless they have a good internet connection and so in rural areas and in urban areas where internet connectivity has been not what it should be, i think that this particular legislation which was passed on a bipartisan basis by the way, will make crucial investments to connect people to the world wide web. what about where the president stands in all of this? he is, as i said, touting his economic agenda but the polls don't think he is doing very well and he is not very popular. is his message working? remember, i think at the end of the day, they're not going to comparejoe biden to the almighty, they will compare him to the alternative

and so we will see who his opponent is, but i think that when they make the comparisons and they look at what he has managed to pass and get signed into law whether it is the infrastructure deal or the bipartisan ships in science at all the inflation reduction act, as they sit heading ——all the inflation reduction act, as they see it getting implemented, hopefully they feel it in their everyday lives in terms of the beneficial impacts of those pieces of legislation and so i'm hopeful that track record combined with results will go down to the president cosmic benefit. ——will go down to the president's benefit. as the situation in russia remains tense, the war in ukraine continues. ukraine president, volodymyr zelensky said in an address that his troops have made advances in all sectors of the front lines. he gave no details, but described monday as a happy day and wished for more like it. ukraine's defence ministry, meanwhile, confirmed the recapture of the village of rivnopil in the donetsk region. zelensky visited soldiers fighting near the eastern city of bakhmut and handed out awards to boost the morale

of troops engaged in a counter—offensive, as some ukrainians hope russian forces might be undermined by saturday's mutiny. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. nara is showing me a laminated photo of her then two—year—old son from a set she had when she was on an isolation ward in bristol during her treatment 30 years ago. i was consciously aware that, if i died, he wouldn't remember me — and i didn't want that. despite chemotherapy, nara's cancer came back aggressively, and she says she was the first patient with hodgkin's lymphoma to be offered a stem cell transplant in bristol. i knew that it was very serious at that point. i'd been told that my cancer was very aggressive and aggressive treatment was needed. it has led to other health problems for nara throughout her life, but she says she's grateful to have survived longer than expected as a result of the doctors�* pioneering work

in the early �*90s. and i increase the numbers every year, every year that i live. and without the unstinting support of the nhs, i certainly wouldn't be here today. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. we have a developing story. cnn is reporting that it has obtained an exclusive audio recording of former us president donald trump discussing secret documents he held that were not declassified after he left the white house. in the recording the former president can be heard speaking about papers that he says are part of attack plans from the pentagon. the recording includes new details that may be critical in special counsel jack smith's indictment of trump over the mishandling of classified information. this was done by the military. given to me. i think we can

probably... given to me. i think we can probably- - -_ probably... we will have to see. probably... we will have to see- trying _ probably... we will have to see- trying to _ probably... we will have to see. trying to declassify. i probably... we will have to - see. trying to declassify. when i was president _ see. trying to declassify. when i was president i _ see. trying to declassify. when i was president i could - i was president i could declassify, now i cannot. isn't that interesting? that is so cool in greece, kyriakos mitsotakis has been sworn in as prime minister, one day after an election victory for his centre—right new democracy party. the conservative leader entered his second term as greece's prime minister. mitsotakis has pledged to address greece's low birth rate by pouring money into the country's public health system, which was stretched to its limits by the covid—i9 pandemic. he also pledged to improve railway safety after 57 people died in a february train collision. us presidentjoe biden sent his congratulations, saying, "i look forward to continuing our close "cooperation on shared priorities to foster prosperity and regional security."

israel has advanced plans for 5,700 new housing units for settlers in the occupied west bank. the right—wing israeli government has given the green light to more than 13,000 new homes in settlements so far this year. israeli media are reporting that it's the largest number to have been approved in a single year. israel's main ally, the us, has opposed the settlement plans and has announced it will stop funding scientific research with israeli academic institutions on the west bank, where violence between israeli settlers and palestinians has escalated in recent months. the bbc�*s yolande knell has more. these plans for newjewish settler homes across the west bank were approved by israel's supreme planning council, and they really show just how settlement construction is accelerating. according to the israeli anti— settlement group peace now, since the start of this year, some 13,000 new settler homes have been advanced. that is three times more than in the whole of last year. most countries see settlements as being illegal under international law, israel disagrees with that.

its new plans include 1000 extra homes in the settlement of eli which is deep in the west bank, and close to where palestinian gunmen killed israeli settlers last week, this was the israeli government response, we are still seeing so much fallout from that attack. which sends mobs of israeli settlers out on the rampage, in palestinian villages setting fire to palestinian homes and cars, one palestinian was killed and over the weekend, there was an unusual move, a joint statement by the heads of the israeli military, its police and its shin bet security services condemning the vigilantism, that then drew a angry response from far right members of israel's governing coalition. it shows there is a deep split over how to deal with this violence. in other news: a judge in the american state of colorado has sentenced a

23—year—old to life in prison without parole for shooting dead five people in a gay nightclub last november. anderson lee aldrich had pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in relation to the shooting in colorado springs. pakistan officials say they're carrying out a nationwide crackdown on human traffickers after a boat with hundreds of migrants sank off the coast of greece earlier this month. on friday, the interior minister said at least 350 pakistanis had been on board the overloaded migrant boat. sudan's rsf paramilitary commander, general mohamed hamdan dagalo, better known as hemedti, announced on monday a unilateral truce during the muslim celebration of eid. in an audio recording on al arabiya tv, he said that the truce will go into effect on tuesday and wednesday. huge numbers of pilgrims have gathered in mecca in saudi arabia, islam's holiest site, at the start of the annual hajj. it's being held without covid restrictions for the first time since 2019. and with more than two million people from 160 countries, it could be a record—breaking

attendance. stunning drone footage off the coast of australia shows a kayaker paddling around near bondi beach in sydney, seemingly unaware of his curious companion the entire time. whale sightings are not uncommon in this part of the world — a record 5,092 whales were spotted from various points along the new south wales coast on sunday. prince william has unveiled a multi—million dollar project to end homelessness across the uk. the homewards initiative will initially focus on six locations over the course of five years, with the aim of making homelessness "rare, brief and unrepeated". 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph has more. first stop, lambeth in south london, for one of the most ambitious projects the prince of wales has embarked on. two days, six locations and a five—year challenge to end homelessness in each of them. good morning, everybody. it won't be easy, but inspired by his mother, prince william says it is realistic. i first visited a homelessness

shelter when i was 11 with my mother. the visits we made together left a deep and lasting impression. i met extraordinary people and listened to so many heartbreaking personal stories. too many people have found themselves without a stable and permanent place to call home. and there was a reunion, too. prince william met trainee barista tavernia reed last week at a new housing project he opened. to her surprise, they met again today and he remembered her. i was homeless from around 15, 16. i went into a hostel for a couple of years and the fact that he recognised me was a big thing. it showed that it really stuck on his mind, what i told him last week. so that's a good thing, yeah. also in lambeth to support the prince's project, gail porter, one of the most well—known tv presenters of the 1990s. but herfame came to a sudden end. work dried up, her mental health

faltered and she lost her home. i didn't ask for help and i didn't know what to do, which is why i'm so pleased to be involved in this, because, you know, we want to talk to people before they get into this situation that i got into, because you just kind of ignore it, then i was too proud. what does home mean to you? there is strong support for the project across the homeless sector, but this is a privileged prince getting involved in an often political issue. this is a genuinely held conviction on his part, and that, to my mind is valuable. he could sit back and do nothing about this, but instead he is showing leadership and i for one i'm grateful for that. newport in south wales and the bournemouth area will also be part of the homeward programme, as prince william searches for solutions to honour society's biggest challenges. daniela relph, bbc news. a unique tradition to tell you about now. over the weekend, couples in canada competed in the wife carrying contest.

the crowd cheered as competitors carried their so—called wives through the obstacle course. they could be actual wives, orjust friends or partners. there are rules, of course. the wife must be carried at all times, and she must weigh at least 49 kilograms. that's about 109 pounds. the grand prize, the equivalent of the woman's weight in beer. thank you for watching bbc news. hello there. with a more active jet stream now it looks like we're going to see a more unsettled theme to our weather for this upcoming week. there will be some rain at times, followed by sunshine and showers and generally it's going to feel a lot fresher than what we've seen of late with temperatures close orjust above the seasonal norm. now, this low pressure system will be the first of many. that's going to bring a rather breezy, cloudy, wet day to the north

and the west of the uk. initially, northern ireland seeing the rain this morning and that rain will move across much of scotland, northern england, north wales and the north midlands. probably the best chance of staying dry with some hazy sunshine, although even here it'll be quite cloudy, will be across the south and the southeast. temperatures reaching highs of around 22 degrees — that is above the seasonal norm. a little bit fresh in the north and the west, but the humidity will start to increase as well. as we move through tuesday night, the rain begins to push away into the north sea. it'll leave a dry night with variable cloud, a bit of mist and murk, one or two showers. and it will feel a lot warmer and muggy as the humidity levels build, certainly across england and wales. so this is the picture for wednesday. we will have this weather front pushing into western areas gradually on wednesday. it's a cold front introducing some rain, cooler air. but ahead of it, we're in a wedge of warm and more humid air across england and wales. so variable cloud, a bit of sunshine depending on how much sunshine we get will depend on the temperatures. but it's going to be warm generally across england and wales, one or two showers ahead of the rain band,

which will be pushing into western areas. some of this could be heavy and thundery, but you'll see the temperatures coming down behind it. high teens here up to 25 degrees, though, central, southern and eastern england. then for thursday, it looks like that weather front may get stuck across the south—east of england. it could bring quite a bit of rainfall here, we think throughout the day. this other weather front will bring some enhanced showers to the north and the west of scotland, elsewhere, it's largely dry. so plenty of sunshine around on thursday, a bit of uncertainty to the position of this rain. it could be a bit further east across the near continent or a little bit further westwards. but at the moment, it looks like east anglia and the southeast could see some very much needed rainfall here. temperatures will be coming down, though. it will feel cooler and fresher across the board — high teens, low 20s. similar story for friday and the weekend, it stays u nsettled. most of the rain in the north and the west. a better chance of staying dry with some sunshine in the south.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk.

i'm stephen sackur.