‘Welcome guys!’ Prigozhin re-appears in public as MI6 says ‘deep fractures’ in Russian elite

“Welcome guys! I am happy to greet you all. Welcome to the Belarusian land!” the video showed him saying. “We fought with dignity! We have done a lot for Russia.”

Moore said he remained optimistic about Ukraine’s eventual victory on the battlefield.

Ukraine has recovered more territory in one month than what Russia claimed in one year of its illegal invasion, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Richard Moore said.

“Well it’s a hard grind and Ukrainian officials and military don’t shy away from that,” Moore said.

“The Russians have had a chance to put in defences which are very hard to overcome.”

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He said the Ukrainians were moving more cautiously to preserve Ukrainian’s lives, in stark contrast to Russia’s tactics of throwing men into the “meat grinder” – a reference to the huge causalities that Russia has sustained on the battlefield.

“They have still recovered more territory in a month than the Russians managed to achieve in a year,” he said.

“So I do remain optimistic about it, I think the resolve to support the Ukrainians is as strong as it ever was.”

Door open to Russians

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MI6’s Moore urged Russians appalled by Putin’s war to spy for the British promising them that they would be looked after.

“Our door is always open, their secrets will be safe with us and together we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end,” he said, adding later that Russians continued to knock of MI6’s door.

Russia said that as of midnight, it would consider any ship travelling to Ukraine’s ports in the Black Sea as potential carriers of military cargo, after withdrawing from an internationally-brokered deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain from the port.

In his evening video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched its largest assault on the port of Odessa since the war’s beginning.

“About a million tons of food is stored in the ports that were attacked today,” Zelensky said.

“This is the volume that should have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa and Asia long ago.

“The port terminal that suffered the most from the Russian terror last night had 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products stored in it, which were intended to be shipped to China.

“Everyone is affected by this Russian terror.”

“Awake at the wheel on the China

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Last week, the House of Commons Intelligence Committee released a scathing report that showed the Chinese had penetrated every level of British society.

Moore denied being asleep at the wheel on the threat China posed and said that MI6 had devoted more resources to China than any other.

“We now devote more resources to China than any other mission,” he said.

“That reflects China’s importance in the world and the crucial need to understand the intent and capability of the Chinese government.

“From our perspective, it feels to me that we are very much awake at the wheel on China.”

Moore praised the report as thorough and said a full response would be provided soon.

Britain is one of Australia’s most-trusted intelligence partners, alongside the United States as part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network of which New Zealand and Canada are also members.

with AP