First Thing: Ukraine advances as Putin greets crowds in rare walkabout

Ukrainian forces seize strategic initiative' while Russian president poses for selfies in Dagestan. Plus, are pink-haired liberals' killing New York pizza?

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Good morning.

Vladimir Putin greeted supporters in a rare up-close public appearance yesterday after arriving in the remote southern region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea.

What else is happening? A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday, with US intelligence reportedly claiming he had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

What has the German chancellor said? Last weekend's mutiny has weakened Putin's authority, as it shows that the autocratic power structures have cracks in them and he is not as firmly in the saddle as he always asserts", Olaf Scholz said during a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the German broadcaster ARD.

What's going to happen now? Retrieving the debris from the submersible is a key part of the investigation to establish what went wrong. The wreckage of the Titan will assist in an investigation into the tragedy and answer questions about the craft's experimental design, safety standards and lack of certification. Industry experts have long had doubts about the design of the craft and raised questions about the safety record of OceanGate, the US company that operated the submersible.