Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned he had warned Wagner Group chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin about his security no less than twice, Belarusian state information company BelTA reported, as questions stay over the circumstances of the aircraft crash final week by which he’s presumed to have died.
President Biden instructed reporters that the USA is making an attempt to pinpoint the reason for the crash and added on Friday that he was not at liberty to talk to it but. He additionally mentioned he was not stunned by stories that the Wagner Group chief — who staged a revolt in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin in June — was killed. The Kremlin has denied widespread hypothesis that Prigozhin was assassinated on Putin’s orders, and Russia’s Investigative Committee mentioned it had recovered the aircraft’s black field and that forensic assessments had been being carried out to substantiate the identities of all 10 crash victims.
Right here’s the newest on the battle and its ripple results throughout the globe.
Lukashenko claimed he had instructed Prigozhin that he may assure his “full safety” by talking with Putin and extracting him to Belarus, however that the mercenary group chief by no means took up his supply, based on a report revealed Friday in Belarusian state information company BelTA. Prigozhin’s dying has but to be confirmed, however his title was on the passenger checklist for the Embraer jet earlier than it crashed, Russian aviation officers mentioned.
Proof doesn’t counsel a easy mechanical drawback or human error precipitated the aircraft crash, aviation specialists instructed The Washington Put up, although they mentioned there’s not sufficient data accessible to attract a definitive conclusion. Early assessments by U.S. officers instructed the potential of an onboard explosion.
Three Ukrainian pilots had been killed in a midair collision throughout a fight mission Friday, authorities authorities mentioned. The 2 L-39 fight coaching plane collided close to Zhytomyr, based on the Ukrainian air power. One of many pilots killed, who had the decision signal “Juice,” had described to The Put up in April 2022 how Ukrainian fliers had been heading off Russian invaders.
At the least 4 folks had been killed in assaults throughout Ukraine up to now day, together with two within the Kharkiv area, one within the Kherson area and one within the Zaporizhzhia area. One of many victims, who lived in Kherson, was an 83-year-old girl who died after Russian shelling set her residence ablaze, the area’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, mentioned on Telegram.
A person was killed by a drone whereas mowing his garden in Russia’s western Belgorod area, the realm’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, mentioned Saturday.
4 extra army officers in Ukraine have been detained as a part of an ongoing crackdown on corruption, Ukraine’s Safety Service mentioned on Telegram. The 4 people are accused of serving to folks evade the draft in change for cash.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich has appealed a Moscow court docket’s resolution to increase his detention by means of November, based on Russian state information company Tass. Gershkovich is being held earlier than trial on espionage prices that each the U.S. authorities and the Wall Road Journal, his employer, say are baseless.
European Fee Govt Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis accused Russia of utilizing “grain as a weapon,” Reuters reported on Saturday, and he additionally urged the nation to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative after it pulled out final month.
Evaluation from our correspondents
Prigozhin’s lingering recognition is posing a problem for Putin: Russians mourning the Wagner Group chief’s presumed dying have arrange memorials in practically two dozen cities throughout the nation and in occupied Ukraine in current days — an indication of the commander’s lingering recognition and a possible problem for President Vladimir Putin, who’s at present dealing with divisions inside the elite and within the army, Robyn Dixon writes.
“Prigozhin, regardless of declaring loyalty to Putin, put his regime in jeopardy and confirmed his weak point for which he acquired the inevitable punishment. I feel the elites understood this sign very nicely,” mentioned Dmitry Kolezev, a Russian analyst and impartial journalist who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. “On the similar time, there’s a broader viewers of army activists, supporters of the Wagner PMC and Wagner veterans, amongst whom there’s a cult of Prigozhin,” he added.