Sergei Surovikin'seen in first photo since Wagner mutiny' in Ukraine conflict

An online snapshot seems to show a Russian general who has been missing since the Wagner mercenary force staged a mutiny in June.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last month, was reportedly close to Sergei Surovikin.

According to rumors, Gen. Surovikin is being questioned about his suspected involvement in the rebellion.

However, a photo that purports to represent Russia's former commander in Ukraine has been shared online.

Sergei Surovikin, the general, has been relieved of his duties and has been dismissed. In good health and living in Moscow with his family. This photo was taken today," Ksenia Sobchak, a prominent figure in Russian media, captioned the image on Monday on the messaging app Telegram.

The BBC has not yet confirmed that the photograph showing a man in sunglasses and a woman with red hair who appears to be the general's wife Anna is genuine.

Separately, Russian writer Alexei Venediktov tweeted on Telegram, "General Surovikin is at home with his family. He is now on leave and available to serve in the Defense Department.

Find out who the ruthless commander Surovikin is.
Wagner's boss Prigozhin has spent a lot of his life on the edge.
On June 23 and 24, Wagner's mercenaries briefly mutinied and threatened to march on Moscow.

The tragedy that took the lives of Prigozhin and nine people on August 23 near Moscow sparked widespread panic. Many people felt the Wagner chief was "dead man walking" following the failed revolt.

During the mutiny, General Surovikin was last seen on camera pleading with the Wagner forces to stop their violence.

Days later, media reports said he had been arrested, but his whereabouts remain unknown.

The Russian general was put in charge of Ukrainian forces in October, but he was replaced three months later.

During Russian operations in Syria, he earned the nickname "General Armageddon" for his ruthlessness.

Chandrayaan-3: What has India's Moon rover Pragyaan been up to since landing?

Exactly a week ago, India set down a robotic probe on the Moon, becoming the first country to land near the lunar south pole.

Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander - carrying a rover in its belly - touched down on the lunar soil after a 20-minute, nail-biting finale watched by millions of people across the world.

Hours later, the Pragyaan rover - Pragyaan is the Sanskrit word for wisdom - exited the lander and took its first steps on the Moon.

The Indian space agency has been providing regular updates on the rover's findings, the photos its taking, distance it is covering and how it is negotiating the obstacles in its path.

Here's a look at the highlights from the first week of the rover's Moonwalk:

Say cheese

Until now, we had only seen videos and images of the rover, taken by the lander.

But on Wednesday morning, Pragyaan turned its camera on its parent - the Vikram lander - and said, "Smile, please!"

The black-and-white image shows Vikram with all its six legs firmly planted on the lunar ground.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said this "image of the mission" was taken by the navigation camera onboard the rover.

Sulphur finds

Over the past few days, the rover has been hard at work.

On Tuesday evening, Isro said that a laser detector onboard had made "the first-ever in-situ - in the original space - measurements on the elemental composition of the surface near the south pole" and found a host of chemicals, including sulphur and oxygen, on lunar soil.

The instrument "unambiguously confirms" the presence of sulphur, it said, adding that preliminary analysis also "unveiled the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen".

"A thorough investigation regarding the presence of hydrogen is underway," it added.

India makes historic landing near Moon's south pole

Noah Petro, a project scientist at Nasa, told the BBC's Soutik Biswas that it's been known from the 1970s - from the Apollo and Luna samples - that sulphur is present in the lunar soil.

But he described Pragyaan's findings as "a tremendous accomplishment".

"I think Isro is highlighting that it's in-situ - so it's important to have measured sulphur on the lunar surface. Sulphur is a volatile element if it's not inside a mineral. So, if it's not part of a crystal, it's very cool to see it measured on the surface," he added.

Negotiating craters

As the rover roams around the mission's landing point - now named the Shiv Shakti Point - in what Isro has described as "the pursuit of lunar secrets", it has covered quite a distance. It has also had to change course to stay safe because of deep craters.

Two days after the landing, Isro said Pragyaan - which travels at a speed of 1cm per second - had "successfully traversed a distance of 8 metres (26ft)".

It added that on Sunday, the rover had encountered a crater with a diameter of four metres. But it was spotted well on time - when Pragyaan was about three metres away.

"It was commanded to retrace the path. It's now safely heading on a new path," Isro added.

Photos released by the space agency show the crater and the footprints of the rover on the lunar soil - going forward and returning.

Taking the Moon's temperature

On Sunday, Isro said that they had received the first set of data about the temperatures on the lunar topsoil and up to the depth of 10cm below the surface from a probe onboard Vikram lander.

The probe - called the ChaSTE experiment, or Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment - is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors and has thrown up some interesting results.

A graphic posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Isro showed a sharp difference in temperatures just above and below the surface.

While the temperature on the surface was nearly 60C, it plummeted sharply below the surface, dropping to -10C at 80mm (just about 3 inches) below the ground.

An Isro scientist told the news agency PTI that he was "surprised" by the temperature fluctuation. "We all believed that the temperature could be somewhere around 20C to 30C on the surface but it is surprisingly higher than what we had expected," BH Darukesha said.

The Moon, however, is known for harbouring extreme temperatures - according to Nasa, daytime temperatures near the lunar equator reach a boiling 250F (120C), while night temperatures can plunge to -208F (-130C).

The Moon's poles, it says, are even colder - one crater near the north pole recorded -410F (-250C) which makes it the coldest temperature measured anywhere in the entire solar system. Equally cold temperatures have been recorded at some of the craters which remain permanently in the shadows in the south pole