Ukraine war: Wagner and Belarus 'not allies', Kramatorsk death toll rises, Russia bans news channel

Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko are not allies, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told AFP.

"At any moment, Lukashenko can betray Prigozhin or Prigozhin can betray Lukashenko. They are not allies. They cannot trust each other," she said on Wednesday.

The head of the Wagner group travelled to Belarus on Tuesday as part of an agreement negotiated to put an end to his rebellion in Russia. 

But Tikhanovskaya believes that much remains unclear about the alleged deal.

Lukashenko's decision to help President Putin was an act of personal convenience to save his own regime, she added.

"He did not act to save Putin's face, nor to save Prigozhin, nor to prevent civil war breaking out in Russia," she maintained. "He only cared about his personal survival, because Lukashenko knows that if the factions in Russia clash, he will pay the price."

"If Prigozhin and Wagner's fighters were to flock to Belarus in large numbers, it could threaten Europe," she said.

"This presence could pose a threat to Ukraine and our Western neighbours", added the opposition leader, whose husband is imprisoned in Belarus.

She warned that Prigozhin could use Wagner's forces to further suppress any dissent. "He is the person who has brought rapists and murderers to our land," she accused.

The death toll from Russian strikes that destroyed a restaurant in the Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk rose to twelve on Thursday morning, with around sixty people injured. 

In his daily address on Wednesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the attack as "terrorist" and announced the arrest of an individual who had "coordinated" the Russian fire.

In Kramatorsk on Thursday morning, where