Over the last year, the U.N.’s atomic watchdog repeatedly expressed alarm over the possibility of a radiation catastrophe like the one at Chernobyl after a reactor exploded in 1986.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the mogul known as “Putin’s chef”, has dropped out of sight since agreeing last Saturday to halt his mutiny and go to Belarus.

During meetings in Kyiv, CIA Director William J. Burns was told of Ukraine’s ambitious goal to retake territory and push Moscow into talks by the end of the year.

Troops were given a morale boost last week by an armed rebellion that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putin’s power in more than two decades.

It was the latest bombardment of a Ukrainian city, a tactic Russia has used heavily in the 16-month-old war.

The Russian president tried on Tuesday to present his military and his country as united. But questions swirled about his decision to leave Wagner mercenaries unpunished.