hello i'm helena humphreys. russia's ambitions for its place on the world stage have been on full display this week. president putin has been hosting the russia—africa summit, seeking to extend his influence on the continent. 17 african leaders attended the events in st peterburg. that's sharply down from the 43 who attended in 2019. and while there has been discussions about the war in ukraine, and how to end it, the key talking point has been about grain. some african leaders are worried their population will have less access to food after russia backed out of a crucial export deal just over a week ago. meanwhile, russia's is working to strengthen ties to north korea. defence minister sergei shoigu met kimjong un in pyongyang. he's believed to be mr kim's first known foreign guest

since the start of the covid pandemic. pictures released by state media show the north korean leader observing a large military parade, flanked by shoigu and the defence minister of china. while all this goes on, so too does russia's war on its neighbour. ukrainian authorities say missiles have struck two buildings in the centre of the eastern city of dnipro. moscow says the country's south has also come under attack. the bbc�*s vitaly shevchenko has been following the latest developments. vitaly, thank you for being with us. firstly, moscow saying that it's encountered a number of ukrainian missiles over southern russia, which it claims to have shot down. what more do we know? moscow says that these were two soviet—made 5—200 missiles and they were intercepted over southern rostov region. later, we also saw reports of another missile — presumably ukrainian,

at least that's what russia says — actually hitting a town called taganrog, also in rostov region. it's part of a continuing trend of ukraine apparently targeting facilities inside russia, across the border in russia. ukraine has not acknowledged responsibility, it did not say it was behind these attacks. vitaly, meanwhile, in st petersburg, we know that the russia—africa summit has been taking place. president putin telling a group of african leaders that he would study a peace proposal that they've put forward. what do you make of that? well, i would be very surprised if the african leaders who visited the summit in st petersburg, if they had effective ways of making vladimir putin change its mind and its plans for his so—called special military operation in ukraine.

the summit in st petersburg, i think, should be viewed as part of russia's global stand—off with the west, because expansion of russia's influence in africa comes at the expense of western influence — particularly in countries such as mali and the central african republic. when we speak about those countries, of course, we have to remember that russia's influence there is best represented by the wagner mercenary group. we've seen photographs which appear to show the leader of wagner, yevgeny prigozhin, actually attending this summit. and it's a very striking event, given that yevgeny prigozhin, about a month ago, led an armed uprising against the top military commanders inside russia — as a result of which, a number of russian helicopters were shot down and their pilots died.

and even though vladimir putin had vowed to punish the people he said were traitors of their motherland, nothing happened to yevgeny prigozhin. and, as we see, he was apparently allowed to attend this very important summit. earlier i spoke with john tefft, former us ambassador to ukraine and then to russia about this. ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. this week, we've seen president putin hosting african leaders. we've seen the defence minister, shoigu, heading to north korea. how successful do you think russia's attempts right now are proving, of trying to build an alternate alliance of support? i think it's still a mixed result. i've been reading the press reports coming out of moscow

around st petersburg on the summit with the african leaders, and it seems that there's, i guess, a mixed message. number one — there's not as many african leaders at this summit as there were at the last one. second, i was intrigued to see that many of the african leaders called on president putin to resume the grain shipments and let the ukrainian grain shipments out of the black sea area. and he's promised to allow or to give as gifts some grain to four or five african countries. but it's pretty clear that the african nations had a clear message for him. cos i think this is one of the things that i've been intrigued by — whether this cut—off of the grain deal which president putin announced earlier would backfire on them. it's still too early to say for sure. but so far, i think, "mixed" is probably the best result they could hope for. there has been, at times, some criticism from western allies — france, for example, president macron —

for african nations continuing to have a relationship with russia in light of the war in ukraine. but do you think that the west is doing enough to disincentivise countries in africa, for example, from having a relationship with moscow, particularly when you think of things like food insecurity in a number of countries? i don't know all of the diplomatic efforts that have been made by the biden administration or, for that matter, the european countries. i'm told that there's been a lot of effort to try to get them to take a more clear position against the russians�* invasion and war against ukraine. i read today that the african nations put forward a plan forfinding some kind of an end to the fighting and a peaceful resolution. i think my own sense at this point is that president putin is still determined to press ahead. he wants to blank the russian offensive, and he's counting on western societies

to eventually come to a stop in their support for ukraine. i don't see that happening. but he's determined to, i think, wait out the west in terms of support in prosecuting this war. a lot, obviously, depends on how this counteroffensive that ukraine is now waging turns out. interestingly on the sidelines of that summit, we also reportedly saw the attendance of the wagner leader, yevgeny prigozhin, at a time when supposedly he was meant to be in exile after that attempted mutiny. what did you make of that appearance, and what do you think it says about president putin's grip on power? i think it was mainly in the context of the relationship that the wagner group and prigozhin himself have had with some of the leaders. the one picture i saw had him with the leader of the central african republic — and there's been wagner

troops there for a long time. i think he was brought to this, or the meetings were held with him perhaps at a separate site, because he has heads to relationships, because he's the go—to guy for many of these african leaders who have brought wagner troops into their country and have cut deals with them — which also allows the russians to extract minerals and other things from africa. i saw it in that context rather than as a move to rehabilitate prigozhin. at the same time that this is going on, there are still efforts to try to bring the wagner groups into the regular army. so i don't think this is necessarily a signal that putin is going soft on prigozhin. you have served under both the obama and trump administrations. you've witnessed russia's invasion of georgia. in light of what we are seeing now, what we've been seeing for the past 18 months, do you think the united states misread vladimir putin?

no, i don't think the united states misread putin. i mean, i was the ambassador in russia from 2014 to 2017, and i got there six months after the russians had invaded crimea. so i don't think anybody had any illusions. to the extent that there was a surprise, it was that he decided, in 2022 in february, to go all—in and to throw 100,000 of his forces into a fight in what has clearly now evidently been a strategic miscalculation of the first order. and it's not only not achieved his objectives, but russia, i think, is in a difficult position. we'll see. it's always easier — all the military officers will tell you to be on the defensive rather than on the offensive. so there's a tough road ahead for the ukrainians. but at the same time, we're seeing inside of russia notjust the prigozhin uprising, but we're seeing more and more evidence of, i think, average russians asking themselves, "what is this about? what are we actually

achieving here?" then this week, we saw also the arrest of mr gherkin, one of the right—wing proponents of the war, who has been very critical initially of the military, but then even of president putin and his policies. it's still hard to calculate from outside given the tight wraps that the russian political leadership has on society there, but i don't think things are going terribly well inside of russia for putin. john teft, the only american diplomat to have been an ambassador to both russia and ukraine — fascinating insights. thanks for being with us. thanks for having me. now at the summit, african leaders have called for an end to the war in ukraine, keen to see the conflict conclude to shore up their supply to grain. some put forward proposals for peace, but the kremlin says they would be "very difficult to implement".

this is what the battlefield looks like now as kyiv pushes to re—ta ke land. in a video published by president zelensky, ukrainian troops say they've taken a village to the east of zaporizhzhia city. president vladimir putin also acknowledges that attacks have "significa ntly" intensified. earlier, iasked lieutenant colonel alexander vindman what else putin could commit to the war. he really has nothing new in terms of capabilities. but what he can rely on is kind of the brutality that he's experienced thus far, or he's leveraged thus far, to continue to punish the ukrainian population. the callousness with which he treats his own troops — he continued to mobilise tens of thousands of russian soldiers to put to the meat grinder. and frankly, he may very well choose, some time in the fall, when he's out of resources, when he's out of military resources, to mobilise hundreds of thousands of troops, like he did last fall. as we've heard, the head of the russian wagner group, yevgeny prigozhin, made an unexpected appearance on the side—lines of

putin's africa summit. he'd been keeping a low profile since leading a failed mutiny last month and was meant to be living in belarus. but he's again making headlines, having his photo taken with a delegate. prigozhin appears to have welcomed the coup that is currently taking place in west africa's niger. a company affiliated with the mercenaries shared an audio message purportedly from mr prigozhin. in the unverified recording, he describes the military takeover as a fight against colonisers. wagner troops operate in several african countries, where they've been accused of carrying out atrocities. a short while ago, i was joined byjohn lechner, an independent researcher whose book on the wagner group comes out next year. john, the wagner boss yevgeny prigozhin, unexpectedly turned up in st petersburg, when he was meant to have cut a deal with putin to be in exile. who needs who more right now, would you say? well, thanks for having me.

i think the simple answer is, when it comes to russia's africa policy, the russian state needs wagner far more than wagner needs the russian state to conduct its operations in africa. specifically in the central african republic and mali most especially right now. what do you think it says that putin essentially allowed prigozhin back into the country? well, i think it essentially shows the fact that wagner is crucial to the russia—africa summit and it's crucial to russia's ability to project influence and power on the continent. and so prigozhin's appearance in st petersburg at this summit isn't surprising, because ultimately i think the russian state is in a bit of a bind right now in that they still need wagner in order to project that influence that they want to. i want to get your assessment, then, on what you think

the future of wagner looks like, then. president putin, as we know, had offered wagner groups contracts with the russian military. was there any uptake on that? i don't think that we've seen much uptake. i think that it's certainly fair to say that there are a number of wagner contractors in ukraine who certainly were surprised or against what they saw in terms of the mutiny in latejune. i'm sure that there are a number of wagner fighters who have gone home. i'm sure that there are a number as well who have joined other volunteer battalions, as well as quite a few who are remaining loyal to prigozhin and the organisation. we've seen thousands move over to belarus, as well as not any significant change in terms of numbers on the african continent, in syria, or in libya as well. i just wonder if you think that could change. because, of course, as we know, wagner plays a very significant role in africa securing a number of governments. if there is potentially

further turmoil/upheaval within the ranks of wagner, do you think that could spill over onto the african continent? do you think that could lead to turmoil there? i don't think so, at this moment. i think what we have to remember is that wagner's presence in africa is a product of the russian state's interest and capacity to be in these countries. so those same constraints that made the russian government turn to contractors in africa are going to essentially constrain their ability to replace wagner any time soon. and so i think one of the main reasons wagner will stay in africa is because the russian ministry of the defence does not have the capacity, the talent or probably also the interest to invest heavily in these countries. of course we know prigozhin has played a huge role in information warfare

as well, it is notjust on the battlefields, he has had a significant role in publishing this information, and if we take a look at what is going on in in niger right now. we have seen niger. people have been chanting and holding russian flags. do you think that information war is laying out on the continent right now? i don't think so. what we are seeing right now, especially in niger is more and more polarised geopolitical environment, where to be anti—french is to be pro— russian, which doesn't necessarily reflect one's views on ukraine or greater geopolitical values, but the narrowing of the discourse between the west and russia, and so i think the flags that we see are not necessarily something that is preplanned or anything along those lines, because there are certainly quite a number of grassroots organisations and individuals who see the value in the discourse and they try to use that to further their own political ends.

john lechner, thank you. great to have you with us, his book on the wagner group comes out later next year. thank you. we've touched on it, but let's focus on the main talking point from the africa summit. leaders have renewed their appeal for russia to return to a deal that allowed grain to be shipped from ukraine's black sea ports. moscow recently withdrew from the agreement, which was brokered by turkey and the un, claiming the west wasn't keeping to its side of the bargain. african nations say it's essential the agreement is revived. for more on this, i spoke with drjoseph seagull, director of research at the africa center for strategic studies, and asha castleberry—hernandez, former senior advisor to the assistant secretary at the state department.

i want to start with the russia—africa summit which we have seen in st petersburg these past couple of days. it's the second time it has been held, and fewer african leaders showing up this time around. what do you make of that — joseph, firstly to you? i think it is significant there were so many fewer african leaders deciding to show up, really up until the days before the summit the expectation was that there would be about the same, and it was seen as a real feather in russia's cap, the fact that so few ultimate we decided to show up i think reveals how little many african leaders see russia has to offer right now. asha, what did you make of it, are you surprised to see a lower turnout this time round? it is very significant to note

but not surprising in some ways because of the fact that we have the grain deal problem going on, and then there has been some concerns with regard to russia's involvement in ukraine. so i think that overtime has just been, concerns among many african leadership, and at the end of the day, it is, you know, it discourage them to attend, or if attending, we must resolve this issue involving the grain deal. exactly, you mentioned those calls that came from the summit from those leaders who did attend one of those calls are led by the egyptian leader, basically saying that putin must re—enter this grain deal. putin has made other promises as we know, he has promised free grain shipments for a number of months, he has also promised debt write—offs — what is your assessment of that pledge, joseph? i think we have to be very sceptical of those promises.

at the last russia have african summit, putin also made a lot of promises, including that russia would double its trade with africa. in fact it has contracted since then. really, russia is using this grain deal as a political card. and we shouldn't forget that in addition to pulling out of the deal, russia has been bombing ukrainian ports and destroying grain. i think it is symbolic of the contempt that russia has for its partners and the global south, and globalfruit prices, it is trying to weaponise this food to advance its goals in ukraine. asha, what do you think? do you think african nations

should be sceptical of these promises put forward by moscow, or should they be about their own partnerships and forging those partnerships in a complicated world? i do think they should be sceptical already, as part of initial comments, is that putin will deliver 50 tons of grain, that is not enough, that is insufficient, especially with the fact that we have india, who has banned exports of of rice to africa. and we have exacerbation in regard to food insecurity, hyperinflation, so i think for the most part, as far as 50 tons of grain, it is not enough, and despite what we call free grain, more needs to be delivered. we are talking about more needing to be delivered, i want to ask you, asha, with your experience of the state department, is there anything you think the biden administration could do which would provide more support to african nations? already initially as far

as pulling out of the grain deal, the biden administration did an excellentjob with calling out that decision along with the united nations. and then with regards to ukraine, the administration is doing an excellentjobjust holding putin five feet to the fire, for instance this week resident biden did an excellent job with opening up, willing to provide more information to the international criminal court with regards to holding putin more accountable with regards to the war against humanity, war crimes against humanity. i think that is significant to note because many african countries are part of the icc. so i think the biden administration is doing an excellent job as far as staying engaged in being able to use diplomatic tools in a way to shape the outcome of this and deliver a strong message to african countries that you know, putin is not a reliable partner, he is still a significant problem when it comes to ukraine, and it is already spilling into where it is impacting food insecurity and inflation in the continent.

joseph, do you think there is any chance that these african leaders can get putin to reverse course, to change his mind? well, i don't think they can do so directly but i do think it is significant that at this summit that russia organised, to really advance its global posture and try to use it as a platform to show it is not isolated and to blame the west for problems that africa is facing, including food singled out instead the narrative is exactly the opposite. it is all about what russia has done to restrict these food supplies. so i think it has been a real black i have russia in terms of its diplomatic efforts, and credit to the african leaders who kept pressing the point, and i think it is not lost on anybody that this was purely a self initiated restriction

on the grain supplies, the grain deal was working fine over the past year, the un said that they had exported 32 million tons, so to cut that offjust to try to advance a political and, i think has really backfired for moscow, vis—a—vis their african interlocutors. asha, we have about 30 seconds left, just briefly, to what extent do you think russia's influence could be a destabilising force on the continent very briefly? —— before we go african readers have been renewing their appeal for russia to return to a deal allowing grain to be shipped ukraine from black sea ports. during a televised meeting at the end of a two—day summit in st petersburg, they said it was essential to revive

the agreement. the head of the african commissio said the disruption to energy and grain supplies must end immediately. the egyptian president, abdel fattah al—sisi, said urgent action was needed to help africa's poorest countries. mr putin pulled out of the agreement because he said the west wasn't keeping to its side of the bargain. now if you'd like more on russia's diplomatic efforts in africa. 0ron the ongoing war in ukraine a reminder to head to our website. we'll have the latest news there each day on a dedicated page, making updates easy to find. the website is bbcnews.com. iam i am helena iam helena humphrey i am helena humphrey 0ssington dc. more news coming to you at the top of the hour. join me thanif the top of the hour. join me than if you can. —— washington, dc. hello there. so far thisjuly looks like it's going to be a little bit below average for our temperatures, but a long way above average for rainfall. yes, there are some places, for example, blackpool, that have already seen 2.7 times their average july rainfall. so it's been a lot wetter than normal and that pattern really has been repeated across most of the uk. now the satellite picture from friday shows this curl of cloud out towards our north—west. it's an area of low pressure

and you can see the weather fronts spiralling into the centre of the low. now, over the next few hours, as that low continues to move closer to the north—west of the uk, so increasingly we'll see some heavy downpours working in, especially to northern ireland and western areas of scotland. these are the kind of temperatures you'll have as you start off the weekend, 14 or 15 degrees. so it is going to be quite a mild start to things on saturday. however, we will see plenty of downpours around. and as i say, the closer you are to that area of low pressure, the more likely you are to see some fairly heavy and even some fairly prolonged outbreaks of rain. that's especially the case for northern ireland and west scotland, but to a degree, north—west england and north—west wales will probably have a lot of showers as well. elsewhere, well, probably not that many showers across the midlands and eastern areas of england. so some dry weather and lengthy dry spells for these areas, showers few and far between. temperatures still by and large, a little below average. now for the cricket, the ashes, i suspect it will probably stay mostly dry on saturday. if you catch a shower, it will be a fleeting light one. on sunday, rain on the way but late in the day. so again, it should be a largely unaffected day for play. different story, though

for monday, we are going to see low pressures working and bringing more rain. sunday's forecast then — we have an area of low pressure that's going to be pushing rain into northern ireland, wales and western areas of england should stay mainly fine to the north and east, although there will be a few showers here. temperatures continue to run a little bit below average for the time of year. 0n into monday and tuesday's forecast. well, even as one area of low pressure crosses the uk, there's another one brewing and developing to our west. so it'd be nice to think as we finished the month and started a new month going into august, that we'd see a change in the weather pattern. but no, that's not the case. it stays unsettled with further showers or some lengthier spells of rain.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.

so this is a radio drama studio. hello, i'm john wilson. welcome to this cultural life, a radio four podcast in which i asked leading creative figures about the influences and inspirations that have fired their artistic imagination. my guest in this episode is sir kenneth branagh. a huge talent, a star of stage and screen for more than four decades now. he's an actor, director, writer and film—maker whose credits range from hamlet to tenet, from henry v to thor. we spoke in the very atmospheric radio drama studio of bbc broadcasting house. ken, welcome to this cultural life. thank you. a show about cultural

inspiration, cultural influences.