Closing Summary
It is now 12am in Kyiv. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Pat Ryder said the Pentagon had no indication that the plane carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin was brought down by a surface-to-air missile. “We assess that information to be inaccurate,” Ryder said of press reports that the Embraer plane was hit by surface-to-air missiles.
The US will begin F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots in October. “Following English language training for pilots in September, F-16 flying training is expected to begin in October at Morris air national guard base in Tucson, Arizona, facilitated by the air national guard’s 162nd wing,” Ryder said.
Russia will return to the Black Sea grain deal only if the west fulfills its obligations to Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN secretary general António Guterres.
Russia has extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich by three months. He was the first journalist arrested by Russian authorities on allegations of spying since the Cold War.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Kyiv had nothing to do with the presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lisak, said on Thursday.
France said on Thursday there were “reasonable doubts” about the cause of the plane crash that was presumed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Norway has decided to donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin follows a pattern of “unclarified” fatalities in Russia, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus had turned to the Kremlin for answers.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today.
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US secretary of state Antony Blinken has announced sanctions of two entities and 11 individuals over their involvement in the forcible transfer of Ukraine’s children to Russia-occupied areas.
Today, on Ukraine Independence Day, @StateDept is sanctioning two entities and 11 individuals for their involvement in the forcible transfer of Ukraine’s children to Russia-occupied areas. Ukraine’s children are not forgotten.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 24, 2023
Here is video of Pentagon spokesperson Gen Brig Patrick Ryder saying that there is currently no indication of the Embraer plane carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
Various landmarks and buildings around the world have been lit up in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colors to commemorate the country’s independence day.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian foreign ministry tweeted photos of landmarks including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Rome’s Coliseum that have lit up in Ukraine’s colors.
💙💛 Paris, Dubai, Rome, Mexico City and dozens of other cities all over the world congratulate #Ukraine on 🇺🇦#IndependenceDay!😍 pic.twitter.com/QPHqZ1SMo9
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) August 24, 2023
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has released a statement in solidarity with Ukraine as the country celebrates its 32nd anniversary.
The statement reads:
“The United States stands in solidarity with Ukraine as it celebrates the 32nd anniversary of its independence. The Ukrainian people have inspired the world with their courage and resolve to defend their right to live in a sovereign, democratic, and free country.
For the past 18 months, Russia has waged a full-scale, unprovoked, and indefensible war against Ukraine. The Kremlin’s war of choice has killed thousands of innocent Ukrainians, displaced millions more, and deliberately inflicted terror and trauma on Ukraine’s men, women, and children.
Yet the Ukrainian people remain indomitable, and Ukraine is fighting back valiantly to regain its sovereign territory and protect its citizens.
The United States is proud to stand with Ukraine, and we will continue to ensure that it has what it needs to fight for its freedom.”
Here are some images coming through the newswires of memorial sites for Yevgeny Prigozhin following the Embraer plane crash:
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US to begin Ukrainian F-16 pilot training in October
During Thursday’s briefing at the Pentagon, Brig Gen Pat Ryder said the US would begin F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots in October.
“Following English language training for pilots in September, F-16 flying training is expected to begin in October at Morris air national guard base in Tucson, Arizona, facilitated by the air national guard’s 162nd wing,” Ryder said.
“Although we do not have specific numbers to share at this time in regards to how many Ukrainians will participate in this training, we do anticipate it will include several pilots and dozens of maintainers,” he added.
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Here is a video of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, speaking publicly about Yevgeny Prigozhin after the Embraer plane crash, saying he was a “talented businessman” with a “difficult fate”.
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In response to a question about Ukraine’s progress in the war, Ryder said: “Broadly speaking, Ukraine continues to get after it and fight.
“They are making some progress along the frontline, but it’s going to be tough and will continue to be tough for all the reasons we’ve talked about, not the least of which is significant obstacles to include minefields. Our focus is going to be on consulting with them and ensuring they have what they need to be successful on the battlefield.”
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“I’m not going to speculate on when F-16 aircraft will be delivered … When training is complete, the Europeans are looking to provide F-16 aircraft and the US will support that effort through the third-party transfer process,” said Ryder.
“We’re talking months, not weeks … This is about the long-term support to Ukraine. This is not about the counteroffensive they are conducting right now,” he added.
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“Ukraine will determine the number of pilots that they require will go through the training. What this will do is essentially increase the capacity across the coalition for training those pilots. It’s another venue by which to train,” said Ryder.
“We know that as the Danes and the Dutch prepare to train those pilots, at a certain point in time in the future, capacity will be reached,” Ryder said of Ukrainian pilots who would undergo F-16 fighter jet training.
“So, preemptively acknowledging that and leaning forward to assist with that is the impetus for why we’re doing this now,” he said, explaining the Pentagon’s plans to begin training Ukrainian pilots in the US.
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“Clearly we know the Wagner group … has many tentacles, some military in nature, some criminal in nature … in Africa. I don’t think anybody is going to discount the danger of that group, or the remnants of that group,” said Ryder, adding that US officials would continue to monitor the Wagner group’s activities in Africa, in response to a question about the Wagner group’s operations in Africa after the reported death of its leader.
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“We’re continuing to assess the situation … I’m not going to have any further information on how or why the airplane crashed,” Ryder added of the Embraer plane crash.
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Pentagon official says surface-to-air missile claims about Prigozhin plane 'inaccurate'
Ryder said the Pentagon had no indication that the plane carrying Prigozhin was brought down by a surface-to-air missile. “We assess that information to be inaccurate,” Ryder said of press reports that the Embraer plane was hit by surface-to-air missiles.
He also said the Pentagon thought it was likely that Prigozhin was dead but did not confirm this.
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Pentagon holds press briefing
The Pentagon press secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder is holding a press briefing.
We will bring you the latest updates on any Ukraine-Russia related statements.
The live stream can be found here:
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The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met his French, German, Italian and British counterparts on Thursday at the White House, where they reiterated their support for Ukraine, the White House has announced.
A readout from the White House said:
Participants reiterated their enduring commitment to supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long as it takes, and to aiding it in its reconstruction.
The national security advisers stressed that Russia’s sovereign assets in their nations’ jurisdictions will remain immobilised until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, and examined further ways to hold Russia accountable for the destruction it has brought in its illegal war.
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The Associated Press has reported that according to US and western officials, a preliminary US intelligence assessment has found that the Embraer plane crash carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and a few of his lieutenants was caused intentionally by an explosion.
According to officials who spoke to the AP anonymously, the explosion falls in line with President Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics”. The officials did not disclose any further details on what may have cause the explosion.
Putin has spoken publicly about the crash, calling Prigozhin “a man with a difficult fate” who “made some serious mistakes in his life.” He went on to promise a full investigation and called Prigozhin “a talented businessman.”
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Here is a summary of today's developments
In a meeting at the Kremlin, the Russian president addressed the crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s business jet for the first time, offering condolences to the families of the 10 people onboard.
“He was a man with a difficult fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life,” Putin said of Wagner mercenary chief.
An explosion onboard a plane presumed to be carrying the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin probably brought down the aircraft on Wednesday, the New York Times has reported, citing US and other western officials.
Russia will return to the Black Sea grain deal only if the west fulfils its obligations to Moscow, Sergei Lavrov told the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
Washington announced plans to sanction two entities and 11 people, including alleged facilitators of the forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children.
Russia has extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich by three months. He was the first journalist arrested by Russian authorities on allegations of spying since the Cold War.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Kyiv had nothing to do with the presumed death of Prigozhin.
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lisak, said on Thursday.
France said on Thursday there were “reasonable doubts” about the cause of the plane crash that was presumed to have killed Prigozhin.
Norway has decided to donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The presumed death of Prigozhin follows a pattern of “unclarified” fatalities in Russia, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus had turned to the Kremlin for answers.
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Today is the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Here are the latest images from Ukraine and elsewhere:
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Ukraine celebrates independence day with first raid into Crimea
Ukrainian forces marked the country’s independence day with a naval raid into occupied Crimea, and Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukrainians for the defiance and courage that have won them global support in the conflict with Russia.
The national holiday celebrates Ukraine gaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, but this year it also marks 18 months since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion plunged the country into a war for survival.
Ukrainian troops landed on the western tip of Crimea, near the village of Olenivka, in the early hours of Thursday, according to Kyiv’s defence intelligence. They fought Russian troops and raised a Ukrainian flag, before all returned safely home, it said in a statement.
It is the first time Ukrainian forces are known to have landed in Crimea since Putin ordered his forces over the border last year. They had to evade Russian defences on a long journey across the Black Sea, and then escape again after a skirmish.
Read more from Emma Graham-Harrison in Kyiv:
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Explosion onboard probably brought down plane presumed to be carrying Wagner leader
An explosion onboard a plane presumed to be carrying the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin probably brought down the aircraft on Wednesday, the New York Times has reported, citing US and other western officials.
Officials told the Times the explosion could have been caused by a bomb or another device planted on the aircraft, adding that other theories were being explored.
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After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, many ask how he survived for so long
The Kremlin meeting was like a scene from The Godfather. Shortly after their mutiny was quelled in June, 35 Wagner commanders were summoned for a sit-down with Vladimir Putin. Putin said he offered them the chance to continue fighting in Ukraine. But Yevgeny Prigozhin, their leader and financier, was defiant.
“A lot of them nodded their heads” at the offer, Putin claimed. “But Prigozhin … didn’t see [their reaction] and said: ‘No, the guys won’t agree with that decision.’”
Two months later, Prigozhin is reportedly dead, probably assassinated. For many Russian insiders, the bigger question is how he defied Putin and remained alive for so long.
Read more by Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer here:
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Russia will return to the Black Sea grain deal only if the west fulfils its obligations to Moscow, Sergei Lavrov has told the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
Reuters reported that the Russian foreign ministry said: “In response to a question from the UN secretary general about the prospects for resuming the ‘Black Sea initiative’, [the Russian foreign minister] Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s position … about its readiness to return to participation in it only if all obligations to the Russian side are actually fulfilled.”
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Vladimir Putin confirms death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and says businessman had a ‘difficult fate’
Vladimir Putin has confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, calling the Wagner mercenary chief a “talented businessman” with “a difficult fate”.
In a meeting at the Kremlin, the Russian president addressed the crash of Prigozhin’s business jet for the first time, offering condolences to the families of the 10 people onboard.
He said that Prigozhin had returned to Russia from Africa on Wednesday and had met “some officials”, without specifying whom.
Putin said he had known Prigozhin since the early 1990s.
“He was a man with a difficult fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life,” Putin said. “He achieved the needed results both for himself and for a joint effort that I had asked him about during the last months.”
It appeared he was referring to the war in Ukraine and possibly the efforts of Wagner fighters in the city of Bakhmut.
“He was a talented businessman,” said Putin, promising a full investigation.
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Putin sends condolences to Prigozhin's family
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has spoken for the first time since yesterday’s plane crash, sending his condolences to the family of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Reuters reports.
Speaking in a televised speech, Putin called the Wagner group founder a talented businessman and said investigators would look into what happened – but that it would take time.
More to follow …
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What does the removal of Prigozhin and Surovikin mean for the war in Ukraine?
Yevgeny Prigozhin apparently being killed on the same day that it emerged Gen Sergei Surovikin had been relieved of his command of Russia’s air force means the country’s two most effective leaders in the first phase of the Ukraine war are now gone, their removal a victory of sorts for the old guard at the Kremlin.
The Wagner group, headed by Prigozhin, led the capture of Bakhmut, Russia’s only battlefield gain so far this year, while it was his ally Surovikin, in his short period of overall command in Ukraine, who began building the defensive fortifications that are seen as so important to the invader’s position today.
However, the conduct of the invasion has changed since the fall of Bakhmut and Prigozhin’s brief, failed rebellion at the end of June. Wagner’s 15,000-strong light infantry force has been absent from the battle since late May and, after the rebellion, has in effect been broken up.
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The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has said Washington is imposing sanctions on two entities and 11 people, including alleged facilitators of the forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children.
The US will also take steps to impose visa restrictions on three Russia-installed purported authorities over their involvement in human rights abuses of Ukrainian minors, Thomas-Greenfield told a UN security council meeting on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The meeting coincided with Ukraine’s independence day.
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Today is the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Here are the latest images:
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What we know about Prigozhin’s ‘last flight’ – a visual guide
The aircraft on which Yevgeny Prigozhin was travelling had long been linked with the Wagner group. The tracking service FlightRadar identified the Embraer Legacy 600 jet as being in regular use in recent months, flying from both St Petersburg and Moscow.
According to some reports, the Wagner party onboard had been attending a meeting with officials from Russia’s defence ministry.
The aircraft, manufactured in 2007, fell under US Treasury sanctions in 2019 when it was listed under a previous registration, M-SAAN, according to a US government press release.
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Wagner fighters and a few dozen members of the public have gathered at a makeshift memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin in his home town of St Petersburg as the Kremlin kept its silence on the warlord’s apparent death in a plane crash.
Footage of the memorial set up outside Wagner’s headquarters in the city showed men in military camouflage laying flowers on the ground in front of portraits of Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, a close Prigozhin ally often described as the founder of the mercenary group who was also named on the passenger list.
In one clip, a fighter in full military garb fell to his knees and wept.
A young man standing outside the memorial on Wednesday evening said in an interview published by the Russian news outlet Sota: “I am here to honour the memory of Prigozhin … I support his politics, Wagner is just.”
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From Putin’s ‘chef’ to Wagner chief: timeline of Prigozhin’s relationship with Russian president
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who went from selling hotdogs to running Russia’s largest private army, launched an abortive mutiny in June and was onboard a private jet en route from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region on Wednesday, Russian officials said. All 10 people onboard the plane died, according to Russia’s emergencies ministry.
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Russia has extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich by three months, defying pleas for the release of the reporter who was arrested in March.
Gershkovich, unlike many western reporters, had continued to report from Russia during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
He was the first journalist arrested by Russian authorities on allegations of spying – which he and his employer strongly deny – since the cold war, sending a chill through media circles.
A spokesperson for Moscow’s Lefortovsky court told Agence France-Presse: “The time of detention has been extended by three months.” The news agency was denied access to the courtroom for the hearing, which was held behind closed doors.
The new end date for the detention is 30 November.
The Wall Street Journal said it was “deeply disappointed” that Gershkovich would remain “arbitrarily and wrongfully detained for doing his job as a journalist”.
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Here is a summary of today's developments
Joe Biden has strongly suggested Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, as Ukrainian officials interpreted the incident as a warning to Russian “elites”, and flowers were laid for the late Wagner chief outside the organisation’s St Petersburg headquarters.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Kyiv had nothing to do with the presumed death of Prigozhin.
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lisak, said on Thursday.
France said on Thursday there were “reasonable doubts” about the cause of the plane crash that presumably killed Prigozhin.
Norway has also decided to donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The presumed death of Prigozhin follows a pattern of “unclarified” fatalities in Russia, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus had turned to the Kremlin for answers.
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Presumed death of Prigozhin does not 'make us feel calmer', Lithuania’s president says
The presumed death of the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, does not improve regional security, Lithuania’s president said on Thursday, adding that fighters from the Russian mercenary group remained in Ukraine’s neighbour Belarus.
“We really shouldn’t think that Prigozhin’s death makes us feel calmer or that it somehow improves the security situation,” Gitanas Nausėda said.
Lithuania, a Baltic country on Nato’s eastern flank, has been warning of risks that the group may pose since its fighters moved to Belarus after a short-lived rebellion in Russia in June.
According to Russian officials, the head of the group was onboard a plane that crashed on Wednesday, with all passengers killed.
But according to Nausėda, Prigozhin’s death, even if confirmed, “makes little difference” to regional security.
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In 2019, Yevgeny Prigozhin was briefly reported to have died after an An-72 transport plane crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The embassy said two Russians had been onboard the plane, which was also carrying members of the DRC’s presidential staff.
The Wagner chief reappeared three days later, however, reports of his death having been greatly exaggerated.
That has meant alternative theories abound, fuelled by that previous reappearance, following yesterday’s announcement of his death, as this analysis explains:
“We will all go to hell. But in hell we will be the best,” commented Yevgeny Prigozhin, discussing his attitude to death in an undated interview that was published last night on the pro-Wagner Grey Zone Telegram channel. In the absence of any remarkable developments, it is looking increasingly likely that, as per Russian reports, the Wagner boss was killed on Wednesday afternoon in a plane crash in the Russian region of Tver, on his way from Moscow to St Petersburg.
Read more on why the Russian president has seemingly upped the stakes – anyone who challenges his regime will have to see it through to the end:
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At least one person was killed and 16 wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine on Thursday, local officials said, as Kyiv marked 32 years of independence from Moscow.
The cities of Kherson and Dnipro, and the frontline town of Kurakhove, were hit by attacks that wounded civilians, and a farmer was killed by shelling in southern Ukraine, the officials said.
A Russian missile strike on a bus terminal in Dnipro wounded 10 people, the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.
Rows of shops near the station were rocked by the blast, which destroyed some of them and left others full of broken glass and ruined goods.
More than 10 other buildings including a bank, hotel and administrative building were damaged, Lysak said.
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Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said at the Brics summit in South Africa on Thursday that there were no signs of western countries honouring the part of the Black Sea grain deal affecting Russia, Reuters reports.
Moscow withdrew last month from the deal, which allowed the export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, saying the international community had failed to ensure Russia was also able to ship its own grain and fertiliser under the accord because of the effects of western sanctions.
Speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg at the end of a three-day summit of the BRICS group of developing nations, Lavrov said: “For now, we don’t see these signs (of grain deal implementation)“.
Lavrov added that he would meet United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres later on Thursday to discuss the deal.
The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022, aimed to tackle sharp rises in global food prices caused partly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are both major grain exporters.
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Lavrov also said the US was seeking not just to punish Russia, but also to quash any dissent against its policies in the international arena, Reuters reports.
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Ukraine had nothing to do with Prigozhin crash, Zelenskiy says
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Kyiv had nothing to do with the presumed death of the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Zelenskiy telling journalists on Thursday: “We had nothing to do with it. Everybody realises who has something to do with it.”
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Ukraine says it launched 'special operation' in Russian-occupied Crimea overnight
Ukraine’s navy and military intelligence carried out a “special operation” overnight in which units landed on Russian-occupied Crimea, the defence ministry’s main directorate of intelligence (HUR) said on Thursday.
The operation, which Reuters was unable to independently confirm, would amount to a rare demonstration that Ukrainian forces are able to stage ground operations in Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.
Brief and dark video footage posted alongside the statement on Telegram showed a small motorboat moving through water at night near a coastline. HUR said the landing point was on the western tip of Crimea, near the settlements of Olenivka and Mayak.
“Special units on watercraft landed on the shore in the area of the Olenivka and Mayak settlements,” HUR said in a statement.
It said “all goals” had been achieved and casualties inflicted on the enemy, but did not identify the goals.
“Also, the state flag flew again in Ukrainian Crimea,” it said, without saying where exactly or providing further details.
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Prigozhin's presumed death will make Wagner group a bigger threat and follows 'pattern'
The presumed death of the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, follows a pattern of “unclarified” fatalities in Russia, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus had turned to the Kremlin for answers.
“It is no accident that the world immediately looks at the Kremlin when a disgraced former confidant of Putin suddenly, literally falls from the sky two months after he attempted a mutiny,” said Annalena Baerbock, referring to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
“We know this pattern in Putin’s Russia: deaths, dubious suicides, falls from windows, all which remain unclarified – that underlines a dictatorial power system that is built on violence,” she said at a press conference with the Kyrgyz foreign minister.
The Polish prime minister suggested Wagner group would become an even bigger threat now it is likely to come under Putin’s control.
“The Wagner group comes under Putin’s leadership. Let everyone answer the question for themselves – will the threat be bigger or smaller? For me, that’s a rhetorical question,” Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference.
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Norway will donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, reports Norwegian broadcaster TV2
Norway has also decided to donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
It did not say how many F-16 jets Norway would provide.
The Norwegian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If confirmed, Norway would become the third country after the Netherlands and Denmark to announce donations of F-16s to Ukraine.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv and announced donations of anti-aircraft missiles and other equipment but made no announcements regarding F-16s.
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Among those presumed dead alongside the Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash near Moscow was Dmitry Utkin, who was often described as the founder or co-founder of the mercenary group although his exact role was disputed.
His own call sign was “Wagner”, after Hitler’s favourite composer. The investigative website Bellingcat wrote in 2020 that Utkin had “an obsessive fascination with the history of the Third Reich” while another recent report described him as “festooned with numerous Nazi tattoos, including a swastika, a Nazi eagle, and SS lightning bolts”. The Wagner group was apparently named after him.
However, according to a 2020 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American thinktank, “it cannot be verified whether Utkin initiated the establishment of Wagner group or was only a frontman for someone else”.
Bellingcat said it had open source data suggesting he was “employed as a convenient and deniable decoy to disguise its state provenance”.
Read more here:
Sweden should prepare to send JAS Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country defend against the Russian invasion, although the Nordic nation must first complete its own Nato accession process, Sweden’s opposition leader said on Thursday.
Sweden this year said it would give Ukrainian pilots the opportunity to test its Saab-made Gripen fighter, but the Swedish government has also said it needs all its planes to defend Swedish territory.
“We can’t let Russia win. JAS Gripen would make a big difference to Ukraine,” the Swedish Social Democratic party, leader Magdalena Andersson, told a news conference.
“For Ukraine’s offensive to succeed, its air force must be strengthened,” she said.
Sweden hopes to join the Nato military alliance but is awaiting ratification by Turkey and Hungary, Reuters reports.
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The Republican presidential candidates vying to be the leading alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump debated the issue of US support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
Both the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and the tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said they opposed more funding to Ukraine, arguing the money should be spent securing the US border against drug and human trafficking.
“As president of the United States, your first obligation is to defend our country and its people,” DeSantis said.
Ramaswamy compared support for Ukraine to the ill-fated US military interventions in Iraq and Vietnam.
The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former vice-president Mike Pence and the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley cast support for Ukraine as a moral obligation and a national security imperative, warning that Vladimir Putin would continue his aggression if he succeeded in Ukraine, potentially threatening US allies.
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Vladimir Putin on Thursday thanked the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, for handling the summit of the Brics group of nations and for his efforts to expand the bloc.
Brics has decided to invite six countries – Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – to become new members of the group, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The move is aimed at growing the clout of a bloc that has pledged to champion the “global south”, Reuters reports.
The Russian president was speaking via video link at the closing news conference of the three-day summit held in Johannesburg, amid news of a fatal plane crash involving the Wagner group boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Russia.
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The UK’s shadow immigration minister has again called for the Wagner mercenary group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s apparent death.
Stephen Kinnock told Sky News: “Mr Prigozhin is clearly a war criminal. He should have faced charges in the international court for his war crimes.
“Labour six months ago called for the Wagner group to be proscribed by the British government as a terrorist organisation and the government still has not done that.”
He said there were “many private armies” now fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
“They are part of the Russian mafia state. They have to be described properly as such,” Kinnock said.
"We've got to ensure that Vladimir Putin's illegal war is defeated."@SKinnock, shadow immigration minister, says that there are "many private armies" now fighting for Russia in Ukraine.https://t.co/QYEclXw6pC
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 24, 2023
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/pIg0fECFwT
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'Reasonable doubts' about cause of Prigozhin plane crash, France says
France said on Thursday there were “reasonable doubts” about the cause of the plane crash that presumably killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group.
“We don’t yet know the circumstances of this crash. We can have some reasonable doubts,” the government spokesperson, Olivier Véran, told France 2 television.
Asked about the US president Joe Biden’s claim that little “happens in Russia that [Vladimir] Putin is not behind”, Véran agreed that “as a general rule, that’s a truth that can be established”.
Prigozhin was “the man who did Putin’s dirty work. What he has done is inseparable from the policies of Putin, who gave him responsibility to carry out abuses as the head of Wagner”, he said.
“Prigozhin leaves behind him mass graves. He leaves behind him messes across a large part of the globe, I’m thinking of Africa, Ukraine, and Russia itself.”
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has hailed Ukrainians as “free people” on the country’s independence day.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Zelenskiy said: “Happy Ukraine’s Independence Day!
“The day of the free, the strong, and the dignified. The day of equals. Ukrainian men and women. In our entire country.
“In this fight, everyone counts. Because the fight is for something that is important to everyone. An independent Ukraine.”
Happy Ukraine’s Independence Day!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 24, 2023
The day of the free, the strong, and the dignified. The day of equals. Ukrainian men and women. In our entire country.
In this fight, everyone counts. Because the fight is for something that is important to everyone.
An independent Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/tUYTsn3TrE
The president of neighbouring Moldova, Maia Sandu, also posted “we stand with you more firmly than ever”.
“Your resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to freedom inspire us all. Together, in shared belief in democracy and a European future, we move forward. Slava Ukraini!”
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The UK schools minister, Nick Gibb, said “it’s important not to jump to conclusions” following reports that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group died in a plane crash.
He told Sky News: “We only heard about this, it only happened a few hours ago.
“We are monitoring the position. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. We are working with our allies, and as soon as we have assessed the situation the government will of course have more to say on the matter.”
It was put to him earlier on Times Radio that this may be further evidence that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is not the kind of person deals can be made with, including to end the war in Ukraine.
Gibb said: “We do know that Putin engaged in an illegal invasion of Ukraine. He’s subject to a warrant for war crimes. So we know what kind of person Putin is.”
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The UK schools minister, Nick Gibb, said the government was monitoring the situation carefully following reports that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group died in a plane crash.
Gibb told GB News: “We are obviously monitoring the position very carefully. We’re working with our allies to see how matters develop.”
He added: “There really isn’t any more I can say … It only happened last night and we’re having to, you know, take stock.”
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A Reuters reporter at the crash site this morning saw men stretchering black body bags, the agency reports.
Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators had erected a tent. Mourners left flowers and lit candles near Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg early on Thursday.
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Reuters: the Embraer executive jet model that crashed, apparently with the Wagner group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, onboard, has only recorded one accident in over 20 years of service, and that was not related to mechanical failure.
Embraer has now responded to the incident, saying it was aware of a plane crash in Russia involving a Legacy 600 aircraft but it did not have further information about the case and had not been providing support services for the jet since 2019.
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There is a little more detail now on the seven people wounded early on Thursday in a Russian missile strike on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, authorities said.
Six of the victims were hospitalised with moderate wounds, reported the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, and some transport infrastructure was damaged.
About a dozen other buildings including a bank, a hotel and an administrative building were damaged, he said, adding that details were being checked.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
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More now on Dmitry Uktkin, who also reportedly died in the crash.
Born in 1970, Utkin was a former officer in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service and served in both Chechen wars, as well as in Syria. He was also among the Wagner members who took part in Russian operations in eastern Ukraine, from 2014, and had received awards for his service from the Kremlin.
In the early 2000s he served 10 years as commander of GRU’s Second Spetsnaz Brigade on the Estonian border before retiring from the army. However, according to his ex-wife, he missed life on the battlefield.
Rarely seen or heard from in public, he was last seen in a video posted by Prigozhin in July, in which the Wagner boss addressed fighters in Belarus, where they were sent after their aborted mutiny a month earlier.
Who was Dmitry Utkin?
Among those presumed dead alongside Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash near Moscow was Dmitry Utkin, who was often described as the founder or co-founder of the mercenary group although his exact role was disputed.
His own call sign was “Wagner”, after Hitler’s favourite composer. The investigative website Bellingcat wrote in 2020 that Utkin had “an obsessive fascination with the history of the Third Reich” while another recent report described him as “festooned with numerous Nazi tattoos, including a swastika, a Nazi eagle, and SS lightning bolts”. The Wagner group was apparently named after him.
However, according to a 2020 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American thinktank, “it cannot be verified whether Utkin initiated the establishment of Wagner group or was only a frontman for someone else”.
Bellingcat said it had open source data suggesting he was “employed as a convenient and deniable decoy to disguise its state provenance”.
Prigozhin himself only acknowledged founding the group in September 2022 having previously sued news outlets who linked him to it. Both the US and EU imposed sanctions on Prigozhin and Utkin over Wagner’s role in Ukraine:
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Air strike injures seven people in Dnipro
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lisak, said on Thursday.
Three men and four women were among the wounded, he said.
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Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said on Telegram that “no matter what caused the plane crash, everyone will see it as an act of vengeance and retribution” by the Kremlin, and “the Kremlin wouldn’t really stand in the way of that.”
“From Putin’s point of view, as well as the security forces and the military – Prigozhin’s death must be a lesson to any potential followers,” Stanovaya said in a Telegram post. According to her, after the mutiny, Prigozhin “stopped being the authorities’ partner and could not, under any circumstances, get that status back.”
“He also wasn’t forgiven,” Stanovaya wrote. “Prigozhin was needed for some time after the mutiny to painlessly complete the dismantling of Wagner in Russia.”
But overall, “alive, happy, full-of-strength and full-of-ideas Prigozhin was, definitely, a walking source of threats for the authorities, the embodiment of Putin’s political humiliation.”
Stanovaya doesn’t expect much public outcry over Prigozhin’s death. She said those who supported him will be “more scared than inspired to protest,” while others would see it as a “deserved outcome.”
Kremlin silent on reported death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in jet crash
Joe Biden has strongly suggested Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, as Ukrainian officials interpreted the incident as a warning to Russian “elites” and flowers were laid for the late Wagner chief outside the organisation’s St Petersburg headquarters.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” the US president said after a briefing following the crash of Prigozhin’s private jet between Moscow and St Petersburg. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the crash. Rosaviatsia, the Russian aviation authority, said Prigozhin and senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people travelling on the Embraer business jet at the time.
Putin made no mention of the incident during a speech in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during the second world war. He instead hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in Ukraine.
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine – and the reported death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Russia’s aviation authority has said Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched an abortive mutiny in June, and top Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were on board a private jet en route from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region on Wednesday. All 10 people on board the plane – seven passengers and three crew members – have died, according to Russia’s emergencies ministry.
There was no immediate official comment from the Kremlin or the defence ministry on Prigozhin’s apparent death. Putin delivered a speech for the 80th anniversary of the Kursk battle in the second world war durning which he did not mention the crash and hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in the special military operation in Ukraine.
Flightradar24 online tracking showed the Embraer Legacy 600 (plane number RA-02795) dropped off the radar at 6.11pm Moscow time. An unverified video clip posted to social media showed a plane resembling a private jet falling out of the sky. Another unverified clip showed burning wreckage on the ground.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but Prigozhin’s allies quickly accused the Russian defence ministry of assassinating him. Grey Zone, a Telegram channel with more than 500,000 subscribers linked to Wagner, hailed him a hero and a patriot who had died at the hands of unidentified people it called “traitors to Russia”.
Russian investigators opened a criminal investigation. Unnamed sources told Russian media they believed the plane had been shot down by one or more surface-to-air missiles, according to Reuters. Neither Reuters nor the Guardian could confirm that.
The other five passengers were named as Sergey Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov and Nikolay Matuseev. The crew were named as Commander Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova.
In addition to Utkin, Prigozhin had been accompanied on the plane by a cameraman, Wagner’s logistics manager, and Prigozhin’s personal security detail, according to Fontanka, a St Petersburg news outlet that has covered Prigozhin’s operations extensively.
The plane showed no sign of problems until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data. It made a “sudden downward vertical”, said Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24. Within about 30 seconds it plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet. “Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Petchenik said.
The type of jet has a good safety record, with only one recorded accident in more than 20 years of service, and that was not related to mechanical failure. Embraer said it was aware of a plane crash in Russia involving a Legacy 600 aircraft but it did not have further information about the case and had not been providing support services for the jet since 2019, when the plane was placed under international sanctions.
There was little surprise abroad over Prigozhin’s apparent death. After a briefing on the incident, the US president, Joe Biden, said: “I don’t know for a fact what happened. But I’m not surprised … There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
Russia meanwhile has also relieved Gen Sergei Surovikin of his command of the Russian aerospace forces, in the highest-level sacking yet of a military commander after Prigozhin’s abortive mutiny. Surovikin was seen as an ally of Wagner in the defence ministry and questions had been asked about whether he or other senior commanders aided the mutiny or had prior knowledge of Prigozhin’s plans.
A Russian military pilot has reportedly defected with his helicopter to Ukraine after a six-month intelligence operation. A Russian military blogger said a helicopter crossed the border with three people on board “a couple of weeks ago” but claimed the aircraft had lost its way. Ukrainian officials appeared to confirm that the aircraft had landed in Ukraine but did not give any further details.
