Head of Wagner Group says Russia attacked them/war based on lies.

ABC NEWS/VARIOUS sources 

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said the Kremlin's justifications for its invasion of Ukraine are based on lies, in another extraordinary attack on the country's military and political leadership.

Prigozhin, once a  key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a video posted Friday contradicted the public explanations for the war, including the central claim made by Putin that the 2022 invasion was necessary to prevent an attack from Ukraine.

Since launching the war, Putin has painted it as a defensive operation to protect Russia. He's claimed it was needed to stop imminent large-scale attacks from Ukraine on largely Russian-speaking eastern regions in Donbas that Russia has occupied since 2014.

But in his video address, Prigozhin, whose fighters have played a leading role in the war, said that was not true and there had been no imminent risk of attack from Ukraine.

"The ministry of defense now is trying to deceive society, the president, and tell a story there was insane aggression from Ukraine and that they intended to attack us with the whole NATO bloc," Prigozhin said.

"The Special Military Operation that began on Feb. 24 was started for completely different reasons," he said.

Prigozhin has been in a public feud with Russia's defense ministry and its head Sergey Shoigu for months, blaming them for Russia's disastrous prosecution of the war. As Russia has faced deepening setbacks in Ukraine, he has become an unexpected, prominent critic of Russia's leadership, using social media to post almost daily video updates excoriating it as incompetent, but stopping short of directly criticizing Putin.

Prigozhin also said in Friday's video that the two goals Putin announced at the start of the war— the "demilitarization" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine—were "pretty stories."

Instead, he blamed Shoigu, the defense ministry and a "clan of oligarchs" for starting the war. He accused Shoigu of seeking glory and wanting "to rob" Ukraine and divide up its assets.

Prigozhin's attacks are extraordinary in Russia, where public criticism of the authorities risks harsh punishment. Since the war began last year, criticism of the military leadership has become a criminal offense.

That has led to speculation among experts about why Prigozhin is enjoying such license. Some observers have suggested Prigozhin might be speaking with the tacit approval of the Kremlin, which may be looking to shift blame for the war from Putin by scapegoating other figures such as Shoigu.

Prigozhin did not directly attack Putin in the video, instead claiming the president was being deceived by his generals and other figures around him. In reality though, Putin—not Shoigu—has taken the lead in making the claims around Donbas and de-Nazification the central justifications of the war, reciting them in his speech declaring his "Special Military Operation."

The implicit picture Prigozhin gave of Putin as weak and out of touch was also remarkable, implying he was manipulated by a clan of wealthy businessmen around him and lied to by his military. The war, as described by Prigozhin, was not about protecting Russia or resisting NATO expansion, but instead greed.

"The war was needed by oligarchs," Prigozhin said. "It was needed by that clan that today practically rule Russia." He added Russia's "sacred war" had "turned into a racket."

Prigozhin lambasted Russia's military leadership for the huge casualties its troops have suffered. He accused Shoigu of hollowing out the armed forces under Putin through corruption and cronyism, crippling its ability to fight effectively and then catastrophically botching the invasion after believing it would be an easy victory.

"There is a total absence of management," Prigozhin said, calling Shoigu a "weak grandfather."

"Someone should answer for the lives of those soldiers," Prigozhin said in Friday's video.

Prigozhin this week has accused the defense ministry of once again presenting a falsely upbeat picture of how Russia is fending off Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive in southern Ukraine. Russia's military has claimed to have largely stymied the counteroffensive and inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine.

Putin himself has trumpeted those alleged successes, repeating claims Ukraine has suffered heavy losses of Western equipment.

UPDATE:

Prigozhin, claimed Russia’s military killed a “huge” number of Wagner paramilitaries in an attack on a Wagner Group camp, as the war in Ukraine drags on and as tensions escalate between the paramilitary group and Moscow. Yevgeny Prigozhin said a "huge number" of his fighters had been killed and that he would lead a "march for justice" to exact revenge.

Prigozhin claimed Russia “sneakily deceived us” as the Wagner Group—which had criticized Russia’s military for allegedly abandoning its front line and said last month it would withdraw some of its troops—planned to “hand over our weapons and find a solution,” adding: “these scumbags did not calm down,” according to a CNN translation. Prigozhin said the Wagner Group is deciding how to respond, threatening: “the next step is ours.” He did not say where the alleged attack happened or suggest a specific motive.

"Those who killed our lads, and tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers [in the war in Ukraine] will be punished," he said.

"I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. That goes for any checkpoints and aviation on our way.

"Presidential power, the government, the police and Russian guard will work as usual. "This is not a military coup, but a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way."

In a statement responding to the message, the FSB demanded "an immediate stop to illegal actions" by Prigozhin. The Kremlin has also said "necessary measures are being taken", according to Russian news agency Interfax.

It comes after a video message in May in which Prigozhin stood surrounded by the bodies of his troops and berated Mr Shoigu - as well as Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov - for not providing them with enough ammunition.

NAVY: Implosion of Titan occurred just hours into the dive to Titanic.

FORBES: The U.S. Navy heard days ago what it thought to be the Titan submersible’s implosion, according to multiple reports—the newest development in the confirmed loss of the submersible and its five passengers.
The “anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” was heard by a secret military acoustic detection system the Navy uses to track down enemy submarines, according to officials interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

The sound was picked up just hours after the submersible began its dive Sunday and came from a location within the vicinity of where the submersible was when communications went down between the sub and a vessel on the surface.

The Titan submersible disappeared Sunday a few hours into its voyage to observe the R.M.S. Titanic’s wreck, which is around 12,500 feet below sea level. It was estimated to have 96 hours of oxygen for its five person crew. Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, was aboard the vessel, which is owned and operated by his company. As days passed in the search for the Titan submersible, reports about its safety issues began to spring up online. 

A former employee of OceanGate reported significant concerns about the vessel in an inspection report from 2018. He claimed in a filing against the company that he was unfairly fired following his critiques. By Thursday, the Coast Guard identified a debris field containing external parts of the submersible and confirmed that the passengers aboard it suffered a “catastrophic implosion.” A debris field containing the submersible’s nose cone and the front of its pressure hull was discovered first by researchers, an indication of a “catastrophic event,” according to Paul Hankins, the director of the U.S. Navy’s salvage operations and ocean engineering for the U.S. Navy.

BREAKING: OceanGate crew and passengers are declared lost.

ABC NEWS: All passengers are believed to be lost after a desperate dayslong search for a submersible carrying five people vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The 21-foot deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning with a 96-hour oxygen supply. That amount of breathable air was forecast to run out on Thursday morning, according to the United States Coast Guard, which is coordinating the multinational search and rescue efforts.

OceanGate feared lost after debris recovered.

CNN: OceanGate said Thursday that it believes the passengers of the Titanic-bound submersible have “sadly been lost,” according to a statement from the company.

“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” according to the statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

Debris found on ocean floor has been assessed to be from the external body of the Titan sub

The debris discovered within the search area of the missing Titanic submersible has been assessed to be from the external body of the sub, according to a memo reviewed by CNN.

The search for the crew capsule of the Titan vessel continues, the memo says.

The debris was located on the ocean floor, roughly 500 meters (about a third of a mile) off of the bow of the Titanic, and it was found around 8:55 a.m. ET.

It was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle that was searching the seafloor, according to the US Coast Guard.

The discovery came at an urgent time for the search and rescue effort. Experts say the sub and its five passengers would be reaching the limit of the sub's roughly 96 hours of life support, having gone missing Sunday morning.

Massive search underway for missing Titanic tour sub. Estimates of 40 hours of breathable oxygen left.

BY EMILY MAE CZACHOR

UPDATED ON: JUNE 20, 2023 / 1:58 PM / CBS NEWS

A massive search ramped up Tuesday as authorities probed the North Atlantic for a tourist submarine that went missing over the weekend on an expedition to explore the famous Titanic shipwreck. Here's what we know so far about the submersible craft and what may have happened to it.
What happened?

A five-person crew on a submersible named Titan, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, submerged on a dive to the Titanic wreckage site Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince research ship lost contact with the sub about an hour and 45 minutes later, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday afternoon.

The sub was lost in an area about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, in the North Atlantic, in water with a depth of about 13,000 feet. It had about 40 hours of breathable air left as of Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

A Coast Guard official said the people aboard included an operator and four mission specialists — a term the company uses for its passengers. Hamish Harding, a British billionaire and adventure traveler, is reportedly among the group, but the Coast Guard has not released the identities of those missing.

Search and rescue is underway

News of the vanished submersible and subsequent search broke Monday morning. At the time, Lt. Jordan Hart of the Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel there were leading the rescue mission, and focusing on waters off Newfoundland in eastern Canada. Hart said Coast Guard personnel were "currently undergoing a search and rescue operation" in that area in an effort to locate and recover the submarine.

The Boston Regional Coordination Center was managing the rescue operation, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed. The location of the Titanic shipwreck falls within the Boston coordination center's territory, according to a map of jurisdictions along the East Coast of North America.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday that crews would expand their search to include deeper waters.

"As we continue on with this search ... we've been working through the night with a broad group of partners to bring all capabilities to bear looking on both the surface and now expanding to a subsurface in the area," U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told CNN.

Earlier, the U.S. Coast Guard said it had a C-130 aircraft searching for the sub, and that the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax is assisting with a P8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities.


"We are doing everything that we can to make sure that we can locate and rescue those on board," Mauger said during a Monday afternoon briefing.

A map shows the point where the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, on April 15, 1912, about 380 miles southeast of the Newfoundland, Canada, coast and some 1,300 miles east of its destination in New York City.

"It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," Mauger said.

Sonar buoys have been deployed in the water in an attempt to listen for the missing sub. They're capable of listening to a depth of 13,000 feet.

The Coast Guard is focused on finding the sub right now, but they're also working with military partners and civilians to develop a rescue plan if the vessel is located underwater, Mauger said.


"Right now we're focused on locating the vessel. But at the same time, if we find this vessel in the water then we will have to effect some sort of rescue," Mauger said. "We're coordinating, reaching out to different partners within the U.S. Navy, within the Canadian armed forces, and within private industry to understand what underwater rescue capability might be available."
The missing submarine

The unique submersible craft that disappeared is owned by OceanGate Expeditions, a company that deploys manned submarines for deep sea exploration and has in the past advertised this particular sub's endeavor to carry tourists down to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic for $250,000 per seat. File photo of OceanGate Explorations' submersible being towed in open water.REUTERS

More than a century after the Titanic sunk in April 1912, the wreck lies on the ocean floor about 400 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast.


OceanGate said recently on its website and on social media that its expedition to the shipwreck was "underway," describing the seven-night trip as a "chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary." In addition to one ongoing expedition, the company had planned two others for the summer of next year, according to the site.

In a statement, OceanGate confirmed the missing submarine is theirs and that a rescue operation had been launched to find and recover it. The company said it was "exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely." The company did not specify how many people were inside the sub.

"For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic," said Andrew Von Kerens, a spokesperson for OceanGate. "We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available."

The sub has emergency oxygen and a 96-hour sustainment capability if there's an emergency aboard, Mauger said. As of Monday afternoon, he said there was believed to be "somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available at this point."
Who is Hamish Harding?

Hamish Harding, a 59-year-old British billionaire, businessperson and explorer, was aboard the submarine when it disappeared, CBS News has confirmed. As BBC News previously reported, Harding announced publicly his decision to join the Titanic shipwreck expedition.

Harding's company, Action Aviation, later confirmed that he was aboard, The Associated Press reported. "There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event," the company's managing director, Mark Butler, told the AP. "We're all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound."

Government officials in the United Kingdom told CBS News they are in contact with Harding's family and prepared to assist as search and rescue operations continue.


"The FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] are in contact with Hamish Harding's family and the local authorities," an official spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office said in a statement. "We stand ready to provide any additional assistance, including as our capacity as the host nation for Nato's multinational submarine rescue capacity."

In a post shared to his Facebook page on Saturday, Harding wrote: "I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic."

I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist...Posted by Hamish Harding on Saturday, June 17, 2023

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," Harding's Facebook post continued. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

That post was Harding's most recent social media update related to the submarine trip. It included multiple photographs of him, including one that showed Harding signing his name on a banner that read "Titanic Expedition Mission V" and another that pictured the submersible vessel itself.

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, president of The Explorers Club, where Harding helped found the board of trustees, said they spoke last week about the expedition in a letter to club members after the sub's disappearance.

"When I saw Hamish last week at the Global Exploration Summit, his excitement about this expedition was palpable. I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site," the letter said.

Harding is a veteran adventure tourist who traveled to space aboard a Blue Origin rocket last year.

Who are the other passengers?

The Coast Guard has not publicly identified any of the individuals on the missing sub as of Tuesday afternoon, but CBS News confirmed that British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son, Suleman, and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet were on board with Harding. BBC News confirmed Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, was also on the vessel.

The Dawood family, of the large Pakistan-based global business conglomerate Dawood Group, issued a statement Tuesday confirming their family members were on the expedition.

"We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time," the statement said. Shahzada Dawood is vice chairman of the Dawood Hercules Corporation, part of the Dawood Group, which the Seti Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in California, said "has been a family business for over a century." Dawood sits on the board of trustees at the Seti Institute, according to its website.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly acknowledged the sub's disappearance at a news conference Tuesday morning, saying, "The U.K. government's thoughts are with those individuals that are currently in the submersible in the north Atlantic. We wish them all the luck and we hope they will be swiftly found and returned to their loved ones."

Nargeolet, a renowned French explorer and former diver for the French Navy, who was part of the first expedition to visit the Titanic wreck in 1987, was also on board the missing submersible, CBS News confirmed on Tuesday.

Rory Golden, an explorer who became the first Irish diver to visit the Titanic wreckage in 2000, shared a post on Facebook Monday about the missing submersible.

"I'm OK. We are all focussed on board here for our friends," Golden wrote. "We have a situation that is now the part of a major Search and Rescue effort, being undertaken by major agencies. That is where our focus is right now."


He added: "The reaction and offers of help globally is truly astonishing, and only goes to show the real goodness in people at a time like this."
"Focus is on the crewmembers"

"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families," OceanGate said in its statement Monday, adding that it was "deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible."

Exactly when the vessel last made contact has not been made public either, although the Coast Guard first alerted mariners about the missing sub Sunday night, saying a "21 foot submarine" with a white hull was overdue and giving its last known position. "VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE," the alert message read.\\

The Coast Guard said in an update Monday that a crew was "searching for an overdue Canadian research submarine" in waters roughly 900 miles from the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

OceanGate said in a tweet shared earlier this month that it was using the satellite company Starlink to maintain communication with the submersible craft as it journeyed toward the Titanic wreckage.


"Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our Titanic dive operations a success — thank you Starlink," OceanGate wrote in the tweet, which it posted alongside an image of the submersible attached to a deck on the surface of the ocean.

The company last tweeted about its Titanic expedition on June 15.

Dubbed the Titan, OceanGate's deep sea vessel is said to be the only five-person submersible in the world with capabilities to reach its depth at nearly 2 and a half miles beneath the ocean's surface, CBS "Sunday Mornings" correspondent David Pogue reported last year.

It is one of three submersible crafts owned by OceanGate that appear on the company's website, BBC News reported, adding that the vessel typically carries a pilot, three paying guests and another person described as a "content expert" by the company. OceanGate's site says the Titan, weighing around 23,000 pounds, has the ability to reach depths of up to 4,000 meters — over 13,000 feet — and has about 96 hours of life support for a crew of five people.

Last summer, Pogue accompanied the Titan crew on the journey from Newfoundland to the site where the Titanic as lost. Several dive attempts had to be canceled when weather conditions indicated it may not be safe. At the time, he described the Titan as a one-of-a-kind submersible craft made from thick carbon fiber and coated on both ends by a dome of titanium.


Ahead of the planned dive, Pogue recalled signing paperwork that read, in part, "This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death."

Space inside the submarine was similar to the interior of a minivan, and, with just one button and a video game controller used to steer it, the vessel "seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components," Pogue said.

On his voyage, the sub was lost for a few hours, Pogue said.

"There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages," he reported at the time. "But on this dive, communications somehow broke down."