Russia-Ukraine updates: Russian missile strikes hit multiple Ukrainian cities
Dozens of injuries were reported in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Russia has continued a nearly 19-month-long invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Recently, though, the Ukrainians have gone on a counteroffensive, fighting to reclaim occupied territory.
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Putin met Prigozhin after Wagner rebellion, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after the rogue paramilitary leader launched a failed uprising, the Kremlin said on Monday.
The June 29 meeting came about a week after the rebellion failed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Indeed, the president had such a meeting, he invited 35 people to it -- all the commanders of the detachments and the management of the company, including Prigozhin himself," Peskov said Monday, according to Interfax, a Russian newswire. "This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29, it lasted almost three hours."
-ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva and Joe Simonetti
At least 8 dead in rocket attack in Eastern Ukraine
At least eight people are dead and 13 others are injured after a Russian rocket struck the Ukrainian town of Lyman in the Donetsk Region on Saturday morning, according to the head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The attack struck a neighborhood with private residences, damaging a home and a store.
As of Kyrylenko's update, police and paramedics were still on site to provide necessary medical assistance.
-ABC News' Tatyana Rymarenko
43 people injured in attack on Kharkiv region, including 12 children
Russian shelling on the town of Pervomayskyi, located in the region of Kharkiv, has injured 43 people, including 12 children, Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, said .
A residential building was damaged and multiple cars were destroyed in the shelling, according to Synyehubov.
-ABC News' Fidel Pavlenko
Top Ukrainian generals say counteroffensive is 'going to plan'
Ukrainian Armed Forces have yet to reach their "full potential," but two top generals exclusively told ABC News the counteroffensive is "going to plan" despite concerns from Western analysts that Ukraine is not making enough progress.
Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who is leading the counteroffensive in the south, told ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz that the situation is "stable."
"The main thing is that we haven’t reached our full potential," Tarnavskiy said.
Ukrainian troops launched the counteroffensive a month ago, attacking on multiple axes on the southern frontline in Zaporizhzia using Western-supplied vehicles. Ukraine succeeded in piercing Russian lines at two points, liberating a string of villages, but has since been locked in ferocious fighting
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, told Raddatz that last month's failed rebellion by the Putin-backed PMC, the Wagner Group, wouldn't impact the fighting on the ground.
"It would be better for us if there were some negative consequences in Russia itself, but it doesn't matter for me," he said.
Asked if he was confident of retaking the key city of Bakhmut, Syrskyi said, "Yes, of course. I’m sure."
Both sides have suffered heavy casualties, according to Western officials, particularly in the south where Russia has so far conducted "relatively effective defensive operations" in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, the U.K. Ministry of Defense reported.
"The enemy is suffering eight times or even 10 times higher losses, especially with the number of killed troops," Syrksyi said.
-ABC News' Guy Davies and Meghan Mistry
Kremlin denies role in plane crash believed to have killed Prigozhin
Russia on Friday vehemently denied having any involvement in the mysterious plane crash that is believed to have killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
"There has been a lot of speculation around this crash [and] the tragic deaths of the plane's passengers, among them Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, the West presents all this speculation from a particular angle. All of that is sheer lies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters while answering questions during a press briefing. "One should rely on facts. For now, there are not many facts, they have yet to be established in the ongoing investigative procedures."
Prigozhin, 62, was a former close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His private paramilitary organization played a key role in Putin's invasion of neighboring Ukraine before briefly launching an insurrection against the Russian military in June. Forces loyal to Prigozhin marched toward Moscow before turning back after several days.
A private jet was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Wednesday when it went down near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia's Tver region, north of Moscow. All 10 people on board were killed. Prigozhin and Wagner Group co-founder Dmitry Utkin were among the passengers identified on a flight list, according to Russian officials.
The U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday that Prigozhin was "likely" killed in the plane crash.