Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin breaks silence on Prigozhin death as spy chiefs say explosion caused plane crash

Vladimir Putin has praised Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as “a talented businessman”, and sent his condolences to the families of those who died in a plane crash near Moscow.

Breaking his silence of 24 hours on the presumed death in the crash of the mercenary group leader and former ally, the Russian president said it was necessary to await the outcome of the official investigation.

The crash, which killed 10 people, is widely claimed to be an assassination to avenge Mr Prigozhin’s mutiny in June that challenged Mr Putin.

Intelligence chiefs said they suspected an explosion caused the crash. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said reports that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane were inaccurate, but he declined to say whether the US suspected a bomb.

Earlier, masked men claiming to belong to Wagner warned the Kremlin to “get ready for us”.

“There’s a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner group will do. We can tell you one thing: we are getting started, get ready for us,” the men warned in a video.

Key Points

• President Putin sends condolences to family of ‘talented businessman’

• UK security forces believe Russian FSB downed Prigozhin jet

• Crash caused by explosion, US spy chiefs suspect

• Wagner chief Prigozhin and co-founder ‘killed’ in Russia plane crash

Russian spending on online censorship soars in wake of Ukraine invasion

12:24 , Andy Gregory

Russia’s online censorship agencies have increased their spending by more than 60 per cent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, analysis by a monitoring firm showed – soaring by as much as 865 per cent in regions bordering Ukraine.

The research, published this week by Top10VPN, analysed almost 4,000 documents, including those found on state procurement website zakupki.gov.ru, and details more than £45m in spending by state communications regulator Roskomnadzor and its subsidiaries since the war began.

Roskomnadzor’s spending increased in Russia’s southern federal district and north Caucasus federal district, both of which border Ukraine, by 865 per cent and 338 per cent respectively, the research found.

Demand for virtual private networks (VPNs) in Russia also skyrocketed after Moscow restricted access to Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram platforms, the research suggests.

Roskomnadzor has since blocked access to thousands of online resources, particularly Russian-language independent news.

Moscow ‘considering’ US request for consular visit to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter

12:10 , Andy Gregory

Moscow is considering a US request to make a consular visit to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich but has not yet made a decision, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.

The 31-year-old US citizen was detained in March on charges of espionage, which both he and the Wall Street Journal deny, and for which Russia has provided no evidence. Washington has declared him to be wrongfully detained.

Gershkovich, who attended a hearing to extend his detention yesterday, is the first American reporter to to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986.

My colleague Bevan Hurley has more about his case here:

Evan Gershkovich fell in love with Russia. He faces 20 years in prison for espionage

Wagner has no formal legal existence, says Kremlin

11:56 , Andy Gregory

The Wagner Group has no formal legal existence, the Kremlin has said.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Wagner exists as a group that has made a “big contribution” to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, and he praised its fighters’ “heroism”.

He claimed that suggestions the Kremlin ordered Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death was a “complete lie”.

The Wagner mercenaries in June briefly attempted to march on Moscow in a mutiny aimed at ousting Prigozhin’s rivals in the defence establishment, which president Vladimir Putin publicly condemned as a treacherous “stab in the back”.

Putin will soon meet with Erdogan, Kremlin says

11:44 , Andy Gregory

There is “an understanding” that the presidents of Turkey and Russia will meet soon, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.

Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan has invited counterpart Vladimir Putin to visit Turkey this month but no date has yet been confirmed. Mr Peskov, who was speaking to reporters, also did not say where the leaders were expected to meet.

Turkey is trying to persuade Russia to return to the deal Ankara and the United Nations helped to broker last summer allowing grain shipments from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea – which Mosow exited last month.

While Mr Putin is subject to an International Criminal Court warrant over suspected war crimes, Turkey does not recognise the court’s authority and therefore would not be required to detain the Russian president.

Russia ‘shoots down drone over Kaluga region'

11:27 , Andy Gregory

Russian air defences shot down a drone over the Kaluga region on Friday, the region’s governor has claimed.

Earlier, the Russian defence ministry said a modified S-200 missile had also been shot down over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region. The city of Kaluga is less than 200 km 124 miles from Moscow.

Kremlin calls accusations it killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin an 'absolute lie'

11:21 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has insisted that Western suggestions Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an “absolute lie”.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said an investigation into the plane crash on Wednesday evening was ongoing.

Vladimir Putin had not met Prigozhin recently, Mr Peskov added.

Ukraine’s state emergency service chief dismissed

11:14 , Andy Gregory

Serhiy Kruk, the head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, has been dismissed, Ukraine's interior minister Ihor Klymenko has said.

He gave no reasons for Mr Kruk’s dismissal, but said it followed an internal inspection of the service and that Mr Kruk’s deputy would serve as its acting head.

What did Biden say about Putin in wake of Prigozhin plane crash?

11:01 , Andy Gregory

Here are more details about Joe Biden’s remarks following reports of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, which have angered Moscow.

“I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised,” the US president told reporters on Wednesday, in response to the news shortly after being briefed.

When asked if he thought Vladimir Putin was behind it, Mr Biden replied: “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer. I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half.”

Ukraine commander ‘likened counteroffensive to’ Second World War battle

10:45 , Andy Gregory

The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces is reported to have likened Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south to the Second World War battle of Kursk, as he staved off Western criticism of the frontline push.

“You don’t understand the nature of this conflict,” a US official recounted General Valery Zaluzhny as saying in one recent interaction, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“This is not counterinsurgency. This is Kursk.”

Kursk was a major battle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1943, which lasted for weeks and marked the largest tank battle in history, after which Adolf Hitler’s forces were slowly pushed back to Berlin, albeit at great human cost to the Soviet Union.

Biden’s remarks on Prigozhin’s suspected death were unacceptable, Russian minister claims

10:29 , Andy Gregory

Joe Biden's comments about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s suspected death in a plane crash near Moscow were unacceptable, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said, according to Russian state media.

The US president had he was not surprised by the reports of Mr Prigozhin’s death, adding that not much happens in Russia that president Vladimir Putin is not behind.

Heineken 'takes £250m hit’ as it completes exit from Russia

10:11 , Andy Gregory

Heineken has completed its exit from Russia, 18 months after the invasion of Ukraine, with the brewing giant estimating to have taken a hit of around £250m in doing so.

The Dutch firm, which also makes Amstel and Birra Moretti beers, said it has secured the sale of the business, which includes seven breweries, to Russian company Arnest Group – for the cost of €1.

Bosses at the brewer admitted it “took much longer than we had hoped”, after it faced criticism for the slow pace of its exit in the wake of the outbreak of war. Heineken had insisted it was seeking to look after its local employees in Russia.

Dolf van den Brink, Heineken’s chief executive and chairman, said: “We have now completed our exit from Russia. Recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia.

“While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner.”

Heineken said new owner Arnest has guaranteed the employment of Heineken’s 1,800 local staff for three years.

Watch: Pentagon says 'likely' Prigozhin killed in plane crash

09:55 , Andy Gregory

Russian citizen detained in Finland at Kyiv’s request, report claims

09:41 , Andy Gregory

The Russian embassy in Helsinki has been informed of the detention of a Russian citizen in Finland on Ukraine's request, Russian state news has reported.

RIA reported that the embassy was taking steps to offer consular assistance to the individual.

Ukraine ‘advancing closer to Russia’s second line of defence’ near Robotyne

09:19 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine’s troops advanced closer to Russia’s second line of defence on Thursday near Robotyne, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, Western analysts have suggested.

In what marks Ukraine’s first major breakthrough of Russia’s heavily fortified frontline, Kyiv’s forces further widened this breach on Thursday, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Geolocated footage showed they advanced further towards the Russian defensive lines west of Verbove into southern Robotyne, the think-tank said, pointing to remarks by a prominent Russian military blogger who expressed concern that the breach represented a critical moment on the battlefield.

Why have Wagner’s commanders remained silent since Prigozhin plane crash?

08:59 , Andy Gregory

Silence from Wagner’s council of commanders could be “due to chaos and confusion within their ranks” or may be the result of explicit instructions from Russian authorities, a US-based think-tank has said.

While a Russian news aggregator has claimed the council met on Wednesday evening to prepare a joint statement and announce what would happen to Wagner in the near future, it has still not released any statement, the Institute for the Study of War said.

“The Wagner Council of Commanders’ silence may be due to chaos and confusion within their ranks following Prigozhin’s and Utkin’s assassination or due to explicit instructions from Russian authorities to remain silent.

Alternatively, the Kremlin may view a public statement as an attempt to reconstitute an independent Wagner force posing a threat to Russia’s defence ministry, with “Putin’s willingness to publicly assassinate the Wagner leadership” likely prompting a delay in the announcement of any successors, the ISW claimed.

“A member of the Wagner Council of Commanders personally selected by Putin to replace Prigozhin now would risk becoming the focus of the ire of Wagner rank and file upset about the assassination of Wagner’s leadership,” the think-tank added.

US announces sanctions and accuses Moscow of crimes against humanity over child deportations

08:38 , Andy Gregory

Washington has announced sanctions against 11 Russians and two re-education facilities allegedly involved in the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children, accusing Moscow of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the measures at a UN Security Council meeting – held on Ukraine’s Independence Day to put a spotlight on the transfer or deportation of its children as young as four months old, to Russia, Belarus and Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s east.

“Children are literally being ripped from their homes in the year 2023,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said. “Russia and its proxies have detained children fleeing violence. They have forced children out of schools and orphanages.

“And local proxies have tricked or coerced parents into sending their children to so-called ‘summer camps’ only to be cut off from communication and refused to have their children returned to them.”

Estimates vary of the number of children taken from Ukraine, but Thomas-Greenfield said the United States knows there have been thousands since Russia’s invasion last February.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine.

What next for the Wagner Group as leader presumed dead in plane crash?

08:19 , Andy Gregory

The Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is presumed dead in a plane crash – a turn of events that appears to leave his Wagner Group fighters rudderless and facing a highly uncertain future.

My colleague Joe Sommerlad takes a look at what could lie next for the Wagner mercenaries:

What next for the Wagner Group in Russia?

Biden and Zelensky discuss training of F-16 pilots, White House says

08:01 , Andy Gregory

Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky have discussed the start of training for Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, in a phone call to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day, the White House said.

The US and Ukrainian presidents also discussed expedited approval for other nations to transfer their F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to the White House.

Mr Biden is said to have reiterated Washington’s commitment to support Ukraine’s defence against Russian aggression for as long as it takes, and to hold Russia accountable for its actions.

Russian militants urge Wagner to switch sides in Ukraine war to ‘avenge Prigozhin’s death'

07:44 , Andy Gregory

A group of Russian militants who have been volunteering on the side of Ukraine have called on Wagner mercenaries to switch sides and turn against Moscow to avenge the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and their commander Dmitry Utkin.

“You are facing a serious choice now – you can stand in a stall of Russia’s defence ministry and serve as watchdogs for executors of your commanders or take revenge,” said Denis Kapustin, commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), in a video posted late on Thursday.

“To take revenge you need to switch to Ukraine’s side,” said Kapustin, a far-right Russian national whose fighters staged an armed incursion deep into Russian territory in May.

“Let’s end the bloody meat grinder of the special military operation,” he said, adding: “After that, we will march to Moscow and this time we will not stop 200 kilometers before the Moscow ring road but go to the end.”

You can read more about the group of Russian out for revenge on Vladimir Putin here:

The Russians out for revenge on Putin

Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Crimea with dozens of drones

07:28 , Andy Gregory

Russia has accused Ukraine of firing a missile towards Moscow and attacking annexed Crimea with 42 drones, in what would mark one of the largest-known coordinated air attacks to date on Russian-held territory.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have shot down a modified S-200 missile over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region, and Kaluga’s governor Vladislav Shapsha said there were no casualties.

The ministry also claimed that its air defence forces destroyed nine drones over Crimea, while 33 were suppressed by electronic means and crashed over the peninsula without reaching their targets.

Russian airports suspended flights for a few hours.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia’s military infrastructure helps Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

‘Not yet definitive proof of Prigozhin’s death’ says MoD

07:11 , Namita Singh

There is not yet definitive proof that Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board the flight that crashed near Tver on Wednesday, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

“However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead,” it added.

“The demise of Prigozhin would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect on the Wagner Group.

“His personal attributes of hyper-activity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor.”

Wagner has been decapitated – the mercenaries should fear the future

07:00 , Namita Singh

Much of Wagner’s senior leadership is said to have been on the jet that crashed in Russia. Western security officials believe Yevgeny Prigozhin and his group may have been overconfident, writes Kim Sengupta – and fallen foul of Vladimir Putin’s ruthlessness.

While world media speculates on Wagner chief's presumed death, Russian state media shies away

06:56 , Namita Singh

While news that Russia’s Wagner mercenary chief was believed dead in a plane crash dominated world reports on Thursday, along with speculation that it was linked to his June mutiny, Russian state media painted a very different picture.

State TV channels Russia 24 and Russia 1 on Thursday largely stuck to describing the investigation into the previous day’s crash that killed 10 people. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose brief march on Moscow was seen as the biggest challenge to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 23-year-rule, was mentioned only toward the end of some reports.

Meanwhile, Russian state TV channels focused on portraying Mr Putin as calm and in control.

There was extensive coverage of Putin’s participation, via virtual link, in the summit of Brics nations in South Africa. Russia 24 covered Putin’s speech at the Brics summit in its entirety without any usual ad breaks or customary news bulletins.

In contrast, independent Russian media outside the country, such as online news outlet Meduza, gave blow-by-blow coverage of the crash.

And many Russians feverishly discussed Prigozhin’s presumed death online, including speculation prevalent in the West that Prigozhin’s death might have been an assassination to avenge his role in the aborted June mutiny.

Biden's shift on F-16s for Ukraine came after months of internal debate

06:54 , Namita Singh

President Joe Biden’s decision to allow allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate F-16 fighter jets — and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves — seemed like an abrupt change in position but was in fact one that came after months of internal debate and quiet talks with allies.

Mr Biden announced during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the US would join the F-16 coalition. His green light came after president Volodymyr Zelensky spent months pressing the West to provide his forces with American-made jets as he tries to repel Russia’s now 15-month-old grinding invasion.

Long shadowing the administration’s calculation were worries that such a move could escalate tensions with Russia. US officials also argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult and time consuming.

But over the past three months, administration officials shifted toward the view that it was time to provide Ukraine’s pilots with the training and aircraft needed for the country’s long-term security needs, according to three officials familiar with the deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Still, the change in Mr Biden’s position seemed rather sudden.

In February, Mr Biden was insistent in an interview with ABC’s David Muir that Ukraine “doesn’t need F-16s now” and that “I am ruling it out for now.” And in March, a top Pentagon policy official, Colin Kahl, told US lawmakers that even if the president approved F-16s for Ukraine, it could take as long as two years to get Ukrainian pilots trained and equipped.

But as the administration was publicly playing down the prospect of F-16s for Ukraine in the near term, an internal debate was heating up.

Quiet White House discussions stepped up in February, around the time that Mr Biden visited Ukraine and Poland, according to the US officials.

Following the trip, discussions that included senior White House National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department officials began on the pros and cons and the details of how such a transfer might work, officials said. Administration officials also got deeper into consultations with allies.

In April, defence secretary Lloyd Austin heard from defence leaders from allied countries during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group who were looking for US permission to train the Ukrainians on F-16s, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorised to comment publicly. Mr Austin raised the matter during the NSC policy discussions and there was agreement that it was time to start training.

Analysis: Prigozhin has made plenty of enemies and this is the result

06:45 , Jane Dalton

An adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted regarding Prigozhin’s possible demise: “We have to wait for the fog of war to clear. However, it is clear that Putin does not forgive anyone for his own beastly fear – the very one that nullified him in June 2023 – and was waiting for the moment.”

Analysis: Prigozhin has made plenty of enemies – including Putin. This is the result

Two Moscow airports suspend flights -TASS

06:31 , Namita Singh

Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports suspended flights early on Friday, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

Residents of the Russian regions of Tula and Kaluga earlier posted on social media about explosions they heard in the night, Russian online media outlet Baza reported.

Flights were also briefly disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday during Ukrainian drone attacks.

Ukrainian evacuee is first to be employed as bus driver via recruitment scheme

06:30 , Namita Singh

A Ukrainian evacuee in the UK has become the first to be employed as a bus driver through a recruitment scheme.

Volodymyr Syrotiuk, 61, worked in a warehouse and drove heavy goods vehicles near Kyiv before the invasion by Russia in February 2022.

He has since settled in Brighton and has joined Brighton and Hove Buses as a driver.

Report:

US will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s at air base in Arizona

06:20 , Namita Singh

The US will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly US-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The training is part of a US and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defence against invading Russian forces.

The announcement came as president Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to commemorate Ukraine’s Independence Day and to reiterate support for the effort to fight back Russian troops.

The two discussed the F-16 training, and mr Biden assured Mr Zelensky of an expedited approval for other nations to transfer their F-16s to Ukraine once training is completed, the White House said in a statement.

Mr Zelensky thanked his American counterpart, Congress and “all Americans” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“The US took the lead in rallying global support for Ukraine. This crucial leadership enabled our struggle and bent the arc of history toward good.”

Pro-Kyiv Russians urge Wagner Group to avenge Prigozhin’s death

05:57 , Namita Singh

A group of Russian militants who fight on the Ukrainian side called on the Wagner Group of mercenaries to switch sides and join their ranks to avenge the deaths of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and their commander Dmitry Utkin.

Russian air authorities have said Prigozhin, Utkin and eight other people were on a private plane that crashed with no survivors north of Moscow on Wednesday.

“You are facing a serious choice now - you can stand in a stall of Russia’s defence ministry and serve as watchdogs for executors of your commanders or take revenge,” commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) Denis Kapustin said in a video address published late on Thursday.

“To take revenge you need to switch to Ukraine’s side,” the commander said.

The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny against Russian military commanders in which they took control of a southern city, Rostov, and advanced towards Moscow before turning around 200 kilometres from the capital.

Russia has opened an investigation into the crash, but its outcome is unlikely to shake a widespread belief that Prigozhin was killed as an act of vengeance for staging the mutiny.

RVC commander Kapustin, a far-right Russian national, founded the armed group a year ago. RVC fights on the Ukrainian side and has said it was behind several military attacks on Russian border regions.

“Let’s end the bloody meat grinder of the special military operation,” Mr Kapustin said in his address to Wagner fighters using the Russian official name for the invasion of Ukraine.

“After that, we will march to Moscow and this time we will not stop 200km before the Moscow ring road but go to the end,” he said.

Russia denies allegations of abduction of minors from Ukraine

05:54 , Namita Singh

Russia UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that Western countries were lying about alleged abductions of Ukrainian children, claiming that Russia was actually saving them.

Moscow says its programme of bringing children from Ukraine into Russian territory is to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

“We urge Washington to stop cynical use of children matters to settle geopolitical scores,” the Russian embassy to the US said in a statement on Thursday commenting on new sanctions.

US imposing sanctions over forced deportation, transfer of Ukraine children

05:38 , Namita Singh

The US State Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on 13 people and entities it said are reportedly connected to the forced deportation and transfer of Ukraine’s children, as Washington ramps up pressure on Moscow over its invasion.

The United States is also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on three Russia-installed purported authorities over their involvement in human rights abuses of Ukrainian minors, the State Department said in a statement.

The sanctions coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day.

“The United States will not stand by as Russia carries out these war crimes and crimes against humanity,” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday.

Ukraine’s government estimates that Russian authorities have deported and/or forcibly displaced over 19,500 children from their homes since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainians vow to keep on fighting at Independence Day events

05:35 , Jane Dalton

Ukraine on Thursday marked its second Independence Day since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with officials vowing to keep up their fight to drive out the Kremlin’s forces and local people remembering their fallen loved ones.

The national holiday coincided with the war’s 18-month milestone, giving a sombre mood to the commemorations.

“We remember everyone who gave their lives for freedom and independence, for the free future of Ukraine,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.

He said that an independent Ukraine is “what we are fighting for.”

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, families visited a cemetery where fallen Ukrainian soldiers are buried.

‘Putin had to act’, claims former speechwriter

05:31 , Namita Singh

Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Vladimir Putin turned political consultant, said by carrying out the mutiny and remaining free, Yevgeny Prigozhin “shoved Putin’s face into the dirt front of the whole world.

”Failing to punish Prigozhin would have offered an “open invitation for all potential rebels and troublemakers,” so Putin had to act, Gallyamov said.

Videos shared by the pro-Wagner Telegram channel Grey Zone showed a plane dropping like a stone from a large cloud of smoke, twisting wildly as it fell, one of its wings apparently missing.

A free fall like that typically occurs when an aircraft sustains severe damage. A frame-by-frame AP analysis of two videos was consistent with some sort of midflight explosion.

‘We have nothing to do with this,’ says Zelensky

05:29 , Namita Singh

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky shook off any responsibility from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crash.

“We have nothing to do with this,” he said. “Everyone understands who does.”Soon after the plane went down, people on social media and news outlets began to report that it was a Wagner plane. Minutes after Russian state news agencies confirmed the crash, they cited the civil aviation authority as saying Prigozhin’s name was on the manifest.

Prigozhin was long outspoken and critical of how Russian generals were waging the war in Ukraine, where his mercenaries were some of the fiercest fighters for the Kremlin.

For a long time, Vladimir Putin appeared content to allow such infighting – and Prigozhin seemed to have unusual latitude to speak his mind.

But Prigozhin’s brief revolt raised the ante. His mercenaries swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot. They then drove to within about 200km (125 miles) of Moscow and downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen Russian pilots.

Mr Putin first denounced the rebellion as “treason” and a “stab in the back.” He vowed to punish its perpetrators, and the world waited for his next move, particularly since Prigozhin had publicly questioned the Russian leader’s justifications for the war in Ukraine.

Instead Mr Putin made a deal that saw an end to the mutiny in exchange for an amnesty for Prigozhin and his mercenaries and permission for them to move to Belarus.

‘Whole world immediately looks at Kremlin as responsible for Wagner chief’s death’

05:14 , Namita Singh

Numerous opponents and critics of Vladimir Putin have been killed or gravely sickened in apparent assassination attempts, and US and other Western officials long expected the Russian leader to go after Prigozhin, despite promising to drop charges in a deal that ended the 23-24 June mutiny.

“It is no coincidence that the whole world immediately looks at the Kremlin when a disgraced ex-confidant of Putin suddenly falls from the sky, two months after he attempted an uprising,” said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, while acknowledging that the facts were still unclear.

“We know this pattern — in Putin’s Russia — deaths and dubious suicides, falls from windows that all ultimately remain unexplained,” she added.

‘Boom – it exploded in the sky’

04:53 , Namita Singh

Anastasia Bukharova, 27, said she was walking with her children on Wednesday when she saw the jet, “and then — boom! — it exploded in the sky”.

She said she was scared it would hit houses in her village of Kuzhenkino and ran with the children.

But the plane ended up crashing into a field.“Something sort of was torn from it in the air,” she added.

Prigozhin ‘messed with too many people’

04:51 , Namita Singh

Sergei Mironov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said on his Telegram channel that Prigozhin had “messed with too many people in Russia, Ukraine and the West.”

“It now seems that at some point, his number of enemies reached a critical point,” Mr Mironov wrote.

US intelligence says an intentional explosion brought down Wagner chief Prigozhin's plane

04:44 , Namita Singh

A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane crash presumed to have killed Wagner leader Prigozhin.

One of the US and Western officials who described the initial assessment said it determined that Yevgeny Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted and that the explosion falls in line with Vladimir Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.”

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment, did not offer any details about what caused the explosion, which was widely believed to be vengeance for the mutiny in June that posed the biggest challenge to the Russian leader’s 23-year rule. Several of Prigozhin’s lieutenants were also presumed dead.

Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said press reports that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane were inaccurate. He declined to say whether the US suspected a bomb or believed the crash was an assassination.

Details of the intelligence assessment surfaced as Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be aboard the jet and referred to “serious mistakes” by Prigozhin.

Russia 'destroys 42 Ukraine-launched drones over Crimea'

04:42 , Namita Singh

Russia’s air defence forces destroyed 42 Ukraine-launched drones over the Crimean Peninsula and one missile over the Kaluga region early on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said.

The ministry said nine drones were destroyed by air defence forces while 33 were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed over Crimea without reaching their targets. Russia illegally annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on the Telegram messaging app that a number of drones were destroyed over the Khersones promontory, on Sevastopol’s outskirts.

Earlier, the defence ministry said it had shot down a Ukraine-launched missile over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attacks, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Russian airports suspended flights for a few hours.

The number of drones launched was one the largest in a surge of similar attacks.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia’s military infrastructure helps Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Mourners leave flowers at makeshift memorials for Wagner chief

04:41 , Namita Singh

Mourners left flowers and lit candles near Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg and at other locations across Russia as they paid tributes to Yevgney Prigozhin.

A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, Grey Zone, pronounced Prigozhin dead on Wednesday evening, hailing him as a hero and a patriot who had died at the hands of “traitors to Russia”.

Russian militants who fight on Ukraine’s side and have carried out several attacks on Russian border regions urged the Wagner Group to avenge Prigozhin’s death and join their ranks. It was not immediately clear how members of the Wagner Group reacted to their call.

Amid the absence of verified facts, some of his supporters have pointed the finger of blame at the state, others at Ukraine, which marked its Independence Day on ThursdayPutin said in June that Prigozhin’s mutiny against the army, which saw Wagner fighters shoot down Russian military helicopters, could have tipped Russia into civil war.

The mercenary leader had also spent months criticising the conduct of Russia’s war in Ukraine - which Moscow calls a “special military operation” - and had tried to topple defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff.

The mutiny was ended by an apparent Kremlin deal which saw Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighbouring Belarus. But he had appeared to move freely inside Russia.Many Russians had wondered how he was able to get away with such brazen criticism without consequence.

Prigozhin posted a video address on Monday which he suggested was made in Africa. He turned up at a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.

‘It was a metallic bang’

04:27 , Namita Singh

The Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, which had been flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region north of Moscow.

A Reuters reporter at the crash site on Thursday morning saw men carrying away black body bags on stretchers. Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators had erected a tent.

The Baza news outlet, which has good sources among law enforcement agencies, reported that investigators were focusing on a theory that one or two bombs may have been planted on board.

Residents of Kuzhenkino, the village near the crash site, said they had heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground. The plane showed no sign of a problem until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data.

One villager, who gave his name as Anatoly, said: “It wasn’t thunder, it was a metallic bang - let’s put it that way.”

‘Had asked Prigozhin to set aside personal ambition’

04:26 , Namita Singh

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, one of Vladimir Putin’s most loyal allies, said that Yevgeny Prigozhin was his friend and he had asked the mercenary chief “to set aside his personal ambitions”.

“But lately he either did not see or did not want to see a full picture of what was going on in the country,” Mr Kadyrov said.

In pictures: Tributes to Wagner leader

04:25 , Jane Dalton

Tributes to Mr Prigozhin continued to pile up at the Wagner headquarters in St Petersburg.

US looks at theories leading to downing of Prigozhin’s plane

04:17 , Namita Singh

US officials told Reuters that Washington is looking at a number of theories over what brought down the plane, including a surface-to-air missile.

The US Department of Defense on Thursday said there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane.

Russian investigators open probe in Yevgeny Prigozhin death

04:10 , Namita Singh

Russian investigators have opened a probe into what happened in Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crash. They have not yet said what they suspect caused the plane to suddenly fall from the sky northwest of Moscow on Wednesday evening.

Nor have they officially confirmed the identities of the 10 bodies recovered from the wreckage. The Russian aviation authority has only released the passenger list for the flight, which included Prigozhin and other members of Wagner’s core leadership team.

It remains to be seen how Wagner fighters react. Some have already spoken of betrayal and foul play.

Pledging a thorough investigation which he said would take time, Vladimir Putin said that “preliminary data” indicated that Prigozhin and other Wagner employees had been on the downed plane.

‘Man with a difficult fate’: Putin delivers mixed tribute to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin

04:01 , Namita Singh

Russian president Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the family of Yevgeny Prigozhin on Thursday, breaking his silence after the mercenary leader’s plane crashed with no survivors two months after he led a mutiny against army chiefs.

Mr Putin’s comments, which suggested he harboured decidedly mixed feelings about Wagner’s mercenary boss, were the most definitive yet on Prigozhin’s fate. Before he spoke, the only official statement had come from the aviation authority which said Prigozhin had been on board the downed plane.

Pledging a thorough investigation which he said would take time, Mr Putin said that “preliminary data” indicated that Prigozhin and other Wagner employees had been on the downed plane. The passenger list suggests that Wagner’s core leadership team were flying with him too and had also perished.

Mr Putin paid generous tribute to the renegade mercenary calling him a talented businessman who knew how to look after his own interests and who could, when asked, do his bit for the common cause.

But he also described Prigozhin as a flawed character who had made some bad mistakes.

“I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families of all the victims. It’s always a tragedy,” Mr Putin said in televised remarks made during a meeting in the Kremlin with the Moscow-installed chief of Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

“I had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the start of the 90s. He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin: Convict-turned-restaurant chief and rebel leader

03:20 , Jane Dalton

During the final years of the Soviet Union, while the president was then a lowly KGB agent, Mr Prigozhin served nine years in prison for crimes including robbery and fraud.

After his release in 1990, he launched a career as a caterer in his home town, owning a hot dog stand and then a string of upmarket restaurants:

Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? Wagner chief presumed dead in plane crash

Investigators ‘focus on bomb theory'

02:15 , Jane Dalton

Investigators are focusing on a theory that one or two bombs may have been planted on board the downed plane, according to the Russian Baza news outlet, which has good sources among law enforcement agencies.

Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators erected a tent.

Residents of Kuzhenkino, the village near the crash site, said they had heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground. The plane showed no sign of a problem until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data.

One villager, who gave his name as Anatoly, said: “It wasn’t thunder, it was a metallic bang - let’s put it that way.”

Putin says Wagner chief had ‘complicated fate’

01:10 , Jane Dalton

Vladimir Putin has said that Yevgeny Prigozhin had a “complicated fate”.

In a televised speech, the Russian president offered his condolences to the families of the 10 people who died in the crash on Wednesday evening, while appearing to eulogise Mr Prigozhin, 62, as a “talented businessman”:

Putin says Wagner chief Prigozhin had ‘complicated fate’ and made ‘serious mistakes’

No evidence missile hit plane, say US defence chiefs

Friday 25 August 2023 00:05 , Jane Dalton

The US Department of Defense has said there is no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, offered no evidence or further details on what US officials believe caused the crash.

Reuters had reported earlier that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused the plane to crash, and cited two US officials saying a surface-to-air missile was likely to have hit it.

“We don’t have any information to indicate right now the press reporting stating that there was some type of surface-to-air missile that took down the plane,” Ryder told reporters.

It is not uncommon for there to be competing, even contradictory, intelligence views in the US government in the hours and days after major international events.

US to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s

Thursday 24 August 2023 23:04 , Jane Dalton

The United States will begin flight training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in October, the Pentagon has announced.

The training in Arizona will begin after the pilots receive English language tuition next month, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

Several pilots and dozens of aircraft maintenance crew will be involved, Ryder added.

On Sunday, Denmark and the Netherlands pledged to donate F-16s to Ukraine.

Ukraine independence day: in pictures

Thursday 24 August 2023 21:55 , Jane Dalton

Ukrainians celebrated their country’s independence day:

Timeline of Yevgeny Progozhin’s private army

Thursday 24 August 2023 21:20 , Jane Dalton

The Wagner Group has become best known for its involvement in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, but the private army, which Prigozhin claimed had 25,000 soldiers at the beginning of the war, has been around since 2014 and has been involved in several other conflicts. This is how it began and progressed:

Wagner Group: Timeline of Progozhin’s private army as leader ‘killed in plane crash’

A dish best served cold

Thursday 24 August 2023 20:58 , Jane Dalton

When this photograph was taken 12 years ago, little did anyone know that Mr Prigozhin would later lead an armed rebellion against Vladimir Putin, ending with his suspected assassination.

The picture, from 2011, shows Mr Prigozhin, whose catering empire won huge state contracts, serving food to Mr Putin at one of his restaurants outside Moscow:

Plane was brought down by missile or bomb, say Wagner supporters

Thursday 24 August 2023 20:28 , Jane Dalton

Mr Prigozhin’s supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed, including suggesting it could have been hit by a missile or targeted by a bomb on board. Those claims could not be independently verified.

Alexander Baunov, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, said it was a signature tactic of dictatorial regimes to “bring an enemy or a traitor closer before destruction”, as criminal clans do.

Sergei Mironov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, suggested on his Telegram channel that Mr Prigozhin had been killed by enemies.

Police officers kept guard at a checkpoint near the site of the crash.

Analysis: Wagner has been decapitated – the mercenaries should fear the future

Thursday 24 August 2023 20:09 , Jane Dalton

The deaths of the leaders of the mercenary group will leave it without a viable leadership or successors as it faces a fraught and uncertain future. Some argue they may have been overconfident:

Wagner has been decapitated – the mercenaries should fear the future | Kim Sengupta

Something torn from plane as it crashed, says witness

Thursday 24 August 2023 19:45 , Jane Dalton

A witness to the crash has described how something was torn from the plane as it fell to the ground.

Anastasia Bukharova, 27, said she was walking with her children in Kuzhenkino when she saw the jet. “And then — boom! — it exploded in the sky and began to fall down.”

She said she was scared it would hit houses in the village and ran with the children, but it ended up crashing into a field.

“Something sort of was torn from it in the air, and it began to go down and down,” she added.

Police cordoned off the field where the plane went down in Kuzhenkino, about 185 miles northwest of Moscow, as investigators studied its wreckage. Vehicles took away the bodies.

Several Russian social media channels have reported that the bodies were burned or disfigured beyond recognition and would need to be identified by DNA.

Analysis: Prigozhin’s fate ‘intended to send clear message to Kremlin foes'

Thursday 24 August 2023 19:30 , Jane Dalton

Even amid the uncertainty, the message was clear: Anyone who dares to cross the Kremlin will perish:

Prigozhin's purported demise seems intended to send a clear message to potential Kremlin foes

Crash caused by explosion, US spy chiefs suspect

Thursday 24 August 2023 19:09 , Jane Dalton

A preliminary US intelligence assessment has found that the plane crash presumed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin was intentionally caused by an explosion, according to US and Western officials.

One official said the explosion fell in line with Vladimir Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics”.

The officials did not offer any details of what caused the explosion that was believed to have killed Mr Prigozhin and several of his lieutenants to avenge the mutiny in June against Russia’s military leaders.

UK minister warns against jumping to conclusions over Wagner chief ‘death’

Thursday 24 August 2023 19:00 , Jane Dalton

A UK minister has warned it is important “not to jump to conclusions” over the reported death of the leader of the Wagner mercenary group:

Minister warns against jumping to conclusions over Wagner chief’s reported death

Prigozhin made serious mistakes, says Putin

Thursday 24 August 2023 18:35 , Jane Dalton

Mr Putin recalled that he had known Mr Prigozhin since the early 1990s and described him as “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results he needed - both for himself and, when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months”.

“He was a talented man, a talented businessman,” he added.

Russian state media have not covered the crash extensively, instead focusing on Mr Putin’s remarks to the Brics summit in Johannesburg via video link and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin pays tribute to fighters against ‘neo-Nazi regime’ in Ukraine

Thursday 24 August 2023 18:22 , Jane Dalton

The Wagner members killed in Wednesday’s plane crash helped fight Ukraine’s “neo-Nazi regime”, Vladimir Putin has claimed.

Expressing his condolences to Mr Prigozhin’s family, the Russian president said: “As for the aviation tragedy, first of all I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families of all the victims. It’s always a tragedy.

In televised remarks made during a meeting in the Kremlin with the Moscow-installed chief of Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, he said: “Indeed, if employees of the Wagner company were there – and the preliminary data indicate they were – I would like to note that these people made a significant contribution to our common cause of combating the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, we remember this, we know it and we shall not forget.”

Russian missile might have hit plane, say US officials

Thursday 24 August 2023 18:02 , Jane Dalton

The US is looking at a number of theories over what brought down the plane presumed to be carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, including a surface-to-air missile hitting it, officials say.

The two told Reuters it was likely a surface-to-air missile originating inside Russia was likely to have shot down the plane.

The officials stressed that the information was still preliminary and under review, and did not rule out a change to the assessment.

The Wall Street Journal has reported a different theory: a bomb aboard the aircraft or some other sabotage.

A third US official said there were a number of theories and no definitive conclusion had been reached.

Flowers left in tribute at Wagner HQ

Thursday 24 August 2023 17:44 , Jane Dalton

People took flowers to an informal memorial at the Wagner headquarters in St Petersburg, following Mr Prigozhin’s presumed death. Some were in tears:

Live: ‘Ask Me Anything’ - an expert answers your questions after the suspected death

Thursday 24 August 2023 17:23 , Jane Dalton

This live event is happening now. See below on how to join in:

Expert Tim White to answer your questions after Wagner chief ‘killed’

Putin praises Prigozhin as ‘talented businessman’, sending condolences

Thursday 24 August 2023 17:12 , Jane Dalton

Vladimir Putin has praised Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as “a talented businessman”.

Breaking his 24-hour silence on the crash, the Russian president sent his condolences to the families of all 10 people killed when the private jet crashed near Moscow.

The outcome of the official investigation into the crash must be awaited, which would take some time, Mr Putin said.

He made the remarks while speaking with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, in a televised interview.

Ask Ukraine expert Tim White your questions about the reported death of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin

Thursday 24 August 2023 17:00 , Martha Mchardy

As Russia remains silent following the reported death of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Independent readers will have the chance to ask questions on what we know so far, what this means for the Wagner group and the war with Ukraine more generally during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Thursday 24 August.

Tim White, who tweets under the handle @TWMCLtd, is a documentary maker specialising in Ukraine and eastern Europe and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have in the aftermath of this breaking story.

To take part in the AMA, post your questions in the comments of this article:

Ask Me Anything: Expert answers questions on Russia plane crash

Prigozhin’s death ‘could cause split in Russian society’, says former chief of Britain’s general staff

Thursday 24 August 2023 16:49 , Martha Mchardy

The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin could cause “a split in Russian society”, the former chief of Britain’s general staff has said.

Lord Dannatt told Sky News: “I think it is probably most likely that even if it wasn’t ordered by Putin directly that it was by someone who knows what Putin would have wished and has ensured the elimination of Prigozhin has happened.

“I think on the balance of probabilities that this is Putin’s doing.”

He added that the move could “divide” Russia as some people opposed the Wagner mutiny while others would have thought of Prigozhin as a hero.