from berlin. tonight, russia launches missile strikes on the eastern ukrainian city of kramatorsk. ukrainian authorities say at least two people died and many more were injured when rockets hit a crowded shopping district. also, the wagner mercenary group yevgeny prigozhin now in his new home belarus. belarus's leader confirming the mercenary chief is in the country and ends days of

speculation about his whereabouts. and an audio recording shows donald trump discussing holding secret government documents he acknowledged he could not declassify. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. we begin with breaking in ukraine where at least two have been killed and 20 others injured in a russian missile attack on a popular shopping area in the city of kramatorsk the donetsk region. we understand a pizza restaurant took a direct hit. a search-and-rescue operation is now underway. dw's nick connolly is in the donetsk region of eastern ukraine for us.

he's under curfew restrictions right now. nick, what more can you tell us about this missile strike? nick: unfortunately it seems like those numbers are still rising. talk of more dead and dozens wounded. in the last few minutes there were reports that the rescue mission had to be paused because there was fear of new rocket attacks. so, this is a very dynamic situation. this is a city that lives with these kind of risks. when you come to kramatorsk, most of the time around midnight you will have two ballistic missiles hitting. now this hits during the heart of the evening time when people would be out. this was an area with supermarkets. this is effectively the capital of donbas right now. a lot of people coming to visit family members who are serving in the military. so this would be full of people, and this is an area that was

already hit. next-door was a big hotel that was destroyed at the beginning of the war. this is another reminder that there is nowhere safe in this part of the world. brent: based on the video we are seeing here, the area hit had no military significance. or did it? nick: well, in this part of ukraine, obviously the chances of military people, civilian people, everyone being together, that is a given. but this is not a military target. this is the center of a civilian city at dinnertime on a summer evening, a couple hours before curfew. so this is more about the fact that the russians hit these targets because they can. this is a city reachable with the missales -- the missiles that they have, they fly very fast and are difficult to react to because once they are fired you only have a couple seconds before they get. and which most antimissile

systems cannot intercept. ukraine simply doesn't have enough of them. there are enough to protect a few cities, but cities like kramatorsk are basically without protection from these kind of weapons. we were recently in areas left without water, and there, the people waiting for deliveries of water have to wait until the last minute before they get information about where they can go to get water. because any crowd of people, even pensioners queing in the sun for water, they are seen by drones and those drones then send shells or missiles towards any kind of grouping of people. we have seen that all through this conflict. humanitarian aid centers becoming targets. this really is a very difficult situation for people here, and makes it understandable why most people keep a very low profile. even when the shooting still seems to die down, they stay home and don't socialize, they don't go to these concept places because they are very wary. brent: understandably so.

nick connolly in eastern ukraine. has always, thank you. the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenko, confirming the head of the wagner mercenary group, yevgeny prigozhin, has arrived in the country. prigozhin agreed to leave pressure for belarus when he called off his armed rebellion over the weekend. russian president vladimir putin is seeking to reassert his authority. he announced an official probe into prigozhin and his group. today, he also thanked russian troops for preventing what he called a civil war in russia. reporter: playing the part of russia's commander-in-chief, this was a display of vintage vladimir putin. the strongman leader paying tribute to members of his military national guard and security services, in the lavish

surroundings of the kremlin. leading a moment of silence for the russian airmen killed by wagner fighters. and casting the mercenary's aborted march on moscow as a success for the russian military, and a sign of the country's resolve. >> you defended the constitutional order, lives, security, and freedom of our citizens. saved our motherland from upheavals, and effectively stopped a civil war. you acted clearly and harmoniously in a difficult situation. reporter: and then later in a meeting with russian soldiers came a pointed remark about the private army at the heart of this mutiny and its funding.

>> i want you all to know about this. support for the entire wagner group was fully provided by the state. from the defense ministry, from the state budget, we fully funded this group. reporter: the kremlin has dismissed suggestions that president putin and his top brass have been weakened by the wagner push on the capital, despite giving immunity to the fighters who occupy the russian city saturday, a rebellion he previously vowed to crush. they are now free to join their boss ann wagner founder yevgeny prigozhin in belarus. the belarusian leader confirming his arrival into the country tuesday after earlier outlining how he brokered a deal to end the mutiny. >> the most dangerous thing as i

understand it was not the situation itself, but how it could develop. this was what was most dangerous. i also understood that a cruel decision was made to eliminate prigozhin. it sounded that way, reading between the lines. so i suggested to putin, not to rush. reporter: alexander lukashenko also told leaders in minsk that belarus can benefit from wagner's combat experience, comments that will concern ukraine and its allies as speculation grows about the group's future and what they do next. brent: john lechner is a journalist whose book on the wagner group comes out next year. i asked him what he thinks the wagner group's future looks like, if it has one at all. john: thank you for having me. that is a great question. i feel like i am writing the book in real time.

we simply don't have enough information at this time, nor do i necessarily think prigozhin himself knows what the future of the wagner group will be. as was recently stated, we know he has arrived in belarus. i don't think we have much evidence for who else within his organization has arrived so there are still a lot of questions to be answered on whether or not he will remain in management. brent: can you imagine wagner continuing to exist with prigozhin in belarus and without a significant number of soldiers for hire with him? is that even possible? john: i think it depends geographically in terms of how this breaks down. it seems fairly likely that wagner and those loyal to wagner do not have a future in ukraine at the moment. that being said, wagner has also

built significant infrastructure over time inevountries in africa, like the central african republic, sudan, bali. and so, this type of infrastructure, or this type -- these relationships wagner have built over time are very difficult to replace overnight. brent: it does carry out a very important role for russia, particularly in north africa, the middle east, in terms of counterterrorism. also in securing precious minerals for russia. can it continue to function without that playing a role in the war in ukraine? john: yes. first of all, we have to be cautious and not necessarily take what putin said today at face value, that the russian government has basically been supporting financially wagner group.

the dates he has mentioned between may 2022 and may 2023 overlapped quite nicely with the invasion of ukraine and when wagner first appeared. so, those figures could just be for ukraine specifically. wagner certainly has several business ventures acted in africa which we believe to be gaining profitability at this moment. brent: let's come back to prigozhin. a lot of people are surprised that vladimir putin is allowing him to move to belarus. as a matter of fact, we heard from the belarusian leader today that he convinced, or tried to convince putin not to have the wagner boss killed. are you surprised that putin is allowing him to move to belarus? i mean, he's still a part of

some storyline. john: yes and no. at every turn, we've underestimated prigozhin and his charisma. and he has consistently seemed to push through different redlines that we, as outsiders of putin's regime, tend to project onto the regime. so i am loathe to predict his punishment, because ultimately he seems to be navigating this space in a way that no one has before. brent: that is a very good point. in your research, you know what has gone on. you probably have more insight than anyone else does into what prigozhin is thinking. he is really more a man of the people than vladimir putin. he has very humble beginnings, an entrepreneur, a hotdog business that became successful.

he has never been a real soldier, either. so there's this potpourri of roles he's had, and he appears to be rather popular with the public, at least that's what it looked like this weekend. john: yeah. i think it's safe to say that he certainly has quite a bit of charisma. he certainly knows how to run a logistics and contracting company in a way that few people have done in the past. and he's a very smart individual. folks i have talked to who have worked with him before say that sometimes he overestimates his own intelligence, at the same time he could consider himself to be a genius as well, which could get him into trouble. but that does not take away from the fact he is incredibly creative, always finding opportunities to take advantage of a certain business or

opportunity to raise his own status within russia. the degree to which he is popular, it is difficult to say. pictures can say a thousand words. a few chair people giving a goodbye to wagner and prigozhin does not necessarily mean that the vast majority of the population likes him. i think there are probably many more russians who find him detestable, in a way. his use of slang, and his kind of rather rude speeches on social media. but i think it is safe to assume that he is a larger-than-life personality, and in a way, it seems difficult to make him into a martyr at this point for putin . brent: that is a very good point, and remains to be seen how much of a threat he is and could become moving forward. we will certainly find out.

john lechner, it is good to have you on. look forward to reading your book. thank you. john: thanks for having me. brent: germany's foreign minister is in south africa for talks, including talks on russia's war in ukraine. she called for an immediate stop to russia's attacks on the country at a joint press conference today with her south african counterpart. she says the wagner march on moscow last weekend showed just how president putin is destroying his own country. south africa says the events of last weekend will not impact african efforts to negotiate peace. germany is pressing south africa to end its neutral stance on the war. dw's need a hase is traveling with the german foreign minister. reporter: germany and south africa tried to demonstrate a new willingness to work together

again more closely and that was clearly an attempt to overcome all of those months of difficult relations between the two countries when south africa, at least in the eyes of western observers, did not position itself clearly enough on russia's war of aggression against ukraine. today there was not a lot of position change coming from south africa. perhaps the language has shifted somewhat. also germany welcomed africa's initiatives when it comes to trying to broker peace in the region in europe also on its own continent. but germany and south africa are talking again. they did stress all of their shared goals and interests. but russia's war of aggression is a dominant topic in all of these talks. so this latest, newly displayed sense of partnership will continue to be tested on a day-to-day basis for as long as

vladimir putin does not withdraw his troops. brent: that was our chief political correspondent nina haase reporting. let's take a look at some other headlines from around the world. sierra leone's president has been reelected to serve a second term. the west african country's electoral commission confirmed the president secured more than 56% of the votes. the opposition has disputed the vote results and accuses the electoral commission of fabricating the numbers. police in the czech republic said they have broken up and international peoples smuggling ring accused of transporting migrants from turkiye to western europe. 14 suspects have been arrested. they allegedly helped smuggle some 1000 people into europe over the last two years, earning at least one million euros. a critical piece of evidence has

been presented in the document mishandling case against former u.s. president donald trump. in an audio recording made back in 2021, trump can be heard discussing secret state documents which he acknowledges had not been declassified. he's downplay the significance of the reporting -- recording and even called a quote, an exoneration, on his truth social website. trump also said the audio leak was part of a continuing witchhunt against him, and an election interference scam. earlier this month trump the not guilty to mishandling u.s. state secrets. for more, we want to go to stefan simons in washington. what more do we know and what more have we heard about this audio message? stefan: first, i have another trump quote for you, what he just said in an interview with fox news. that is, i don't do things

wrong, i do things right. that is the former president, who also called this, as you said, a disgrace, and pure elections interfering. the leaking, as he says, of this audiotape. he he thinks he is quote, covered by the president background act, which in fact, he is not. he also said these were only newspaper clippings and articles, which he waved to people in new jersey in this meeting in 2021. so the problem here is those people who were in this meeting room can also be heard on the audiotape. two staff members of the former that it, plus a publisher and a writer who were there, trying to interview the president and talk to him for a book from his chief of staff -- a plan by his chief of staff, a namor.

but we do not -- a memoir. but we do not know where that stands. so one way or another, to hear what we formerly knew from the transcript, because of course the transcript was released by the special counsel in his original indictment just two weeks ago in miami. it's an entirely different spiel. it really hits home. i can tell you, i watched a lot of television in the last 48 hours, and on every network and in every newspaper you have experts, lawyers, attorneys, saying they would not know how to defend the president after this. brent: that is true. it is one thing to read it, it is another thing to hear it, especially when it is evidence that proves what you are alleging. what could this mean for trump's presidential campaign? stefan: oof. good question. very good question. answer? i don't know. we don't know.

let's say the president gets convicted. there is no precedent for a federal indictment in the first place of a president. well, that's checked, we had that two weeks ago. if he gets convicted, what to do with someone who is perhaps his party's candidate for president in next year's elections. i really cannot answer these questions. and i bet you that there are a lot of people in the department of justice, experts, even in academia, they really do not have a straight answer for you. so pardon me, you don't get it from me either. brent: we have never been here before. this is definitely uncharted territory. stefan simons in washington. thank you. a study has found that the world's forests continue to disappear at an alarming rate,

despite international pledges to stop or even reverse deforestation. more than half of the loss is happening in brazil. reporter: dispatch of land may not look very tropical, but it's actually part of the world's largest rain forest. seems like these have become more and more common in the brazilian amazon. millions of actors razed illegally to make -- almost half of the tropical primary forests lost last year was in brazil. that is according to a new study by the world resources institute, a global resource in organizat. rain forests lost an area roughly the size of switzerland in 2022. that's 10% more than the year before. tropical forests absorb massive amounts of co2. in brazil, environmental experts blame the last four years of

deforestation on former president jair bolsonaro. his administration weakened the agency's monitoring by shrinking their budgets and pushing out staff. >> during the last four years, amazon was a place without law. reporter: but lula da silva, who took office this year, wants to end illegal deforestation in the amazon by 2030. and he a good track record. when he was president 20 years ago, is government reduced deforestation in the reef -- in the rain forest by 80%. it also strengthened authorities to crack down on these spots. now, lula's administration has further developed its action plan. >> the aim of the plan is to relentlessly combat crimes such as a legal obligation -- public -- illegal hunting and fishing in indigenous territories, and give environmental protection areas to the amazon as a whole. reporter: but challenges remain,

not least the powerful agribusiness bloc and congress which could hold back new environmental laws. >> to really reach the few illegal deforestation in seven years. on the other hand, it's important to set ambitious goals. reporter: and people around the world will feel the climatic consequences if these goals are not met. brent: finally, pizza in pompeii? archaeologists in the ancient ruined italian city have discovered a fresco in tip top condition, and it appears to show what looks like one of our modern-day favorite foods. reporter: could this fresco depict a precursor of the modern-day pizza? archaeologists in the ancient city of pompeii think it might be an early version of the popular food.

>> this fresco is quite particular. because what we see, we suppose, is a kind of sacrificial flatbread. an offering with perhaps a seasoning on it, some spices, some kind of condiment. but also pomegranates, dates, and other foods, with perhaps some walnuts. and a garland of strawberry trees on the front. an image that obviously to the modern observer immediately brings to mind a pizza. since we are near naples. obviously it is not a pizza, but perhaps it could have been a distant ancestor of this food. reporter: but why can't it be a pizza? two of the most characteristic ingredients are missing in the fresco. tomatoes, which would not reach europe until centuries later,

and mozzarella cheese. brent: from pizza to precious art, the last portrait painted by an austrian artist has been sold in london 74 million ounce. the price tag has made it the most expensive painting ever auctioned in europe. the painting, known as lady with a fan, shows a woman against the chinese influenced backdrop of dragons and blossoms. it was the last painting the artist completed before his death in 1918. his masterpieces have fetched some of the highest prices in the art world. wow. here's a reminder of our top story. ukrainian officials say at least two people have been killed in a russian missile strike on the eastern city of kramatorsk. more than 20 others were injured. rescuers are racing to locate people who may still be trapped under the rubble. and belarus's leader confirming

that the wagner group chief yevgeny prigozhin has arrived in the country. a state news agency quoting alexander lukashenko as saying that prigozhin is welcome to stay in belarus for some time, and his own expense. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. we'll be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> will news on -- world news on france 24. yevgeny prigozhin has moved to belarus, lukashenko says they're welcome to stay for some time at their own expense. the kremlin is trying to reassert his authority, shaken by the mercenary march on moscow. busy restaurant in ukraine has been struck by two russian missiles.