Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
DNA testing during the investigation into the plane crash established “the identities of all 10 victims,” the statement said. Russian aviation authorities previously confirmed that Prigozhin — along with two of his close associates, Valeriy Chekalov and Dmitry Utkin — were listed as passengers on the Embraer business jet, which went down in the Tver region of western Russia.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had warned Prigozhin about his safety at least twice, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported. Lukashenko claimed he had told Prigozhin that he could guarantee his “full security” by speaking with Putin and extracting him to Belarus, but that the mercenary group leader never took up his offer, BelTA reported Friday.
Evidence does not suggest that a simple mechanical problem or human error caused the plane crash, aviation experts told The Washington Post, though they said there is not enough information available to draw a definitive conclusion. Early assessments by U.S. officials suggested the possibility of an onboard explosion. President Biden told reporters that the United States is trying to pinpoint the cause of the crash and added on Friday that he was not at liberty to speak to it yet.
Three Ukrainian pilots were killed in a midair collision during a combat mission Friday, government authorities said. The two L-39 combat training aircraft collided near Zhytomyr, according to the Ukrainian air force. One of the pilots killed, who had the call sign “Juice,” had described to The Post in April 2022 how Ukrainian fliers were fending off Russian invaders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the collision. Zelensky in his overnight address expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the pilots. Yuri Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, said Sunday that it was not clear how long the investigation would take, according to the Associated Press.
Ukrainian officials claimed to have thwarted an attempted Russian attack overnight on Ukraine’s capital. The civil-military administration of Kyiv said cruise missiles fired in the area of the Caspian Sea and “moving in the direction of Kyiv” were destroyed by air defenses overnight without causing any damage or injuries in the capital. Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that “all intended targets were struck” in an overnight “strike from precision-guided long-range air-launched weapons” against an airfield in the Kyiv region. It was not immediately clear whether the two events were the same, and The Post could not independently verify the assertions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of targeting two border regions with drones overnight. The ministry said air defenses downed two drones over the Bryansk and Kursk regions, on Russia’s western border with Ukraine. The Post could not independently verify the claims.
Ukrainian and Russian sea and air forces have had several confrontations “around strategically important gas and oil platforms” in the Black Sea, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday. The “skirmishes” include a Russian combat jet that “shot at a Ukrainian military small boat operating near a platform in the north-west of the sea” last week, the ministry said. The platforms, including the one from last week’s incident — which was operated by a Ukrainian oil and gas company that Russian forces seized when they occupied Crimea in 2014 — “command valuable hydrocarbon resources. However, like Snake Island to the west, they can also be used as forward deployment bases, helicopter landing sites, and to position long-range missile systems,” the ministry said.
Four more military officers in Ukraine have been detained as part of a corruption investigation, Ukraine’s Security Service said on Telegram. The four individuals are accused of helping people evade the draft in exchange for money.
Ukraine has been negotiating with the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to secure security guarantees from the Western powers, Zelensky said. “We have started negotiations with Canada on a bilateral document on security guarantees. Earlier we started with the United States and the United Kingdom,” Zelensky said late Saturday. “This will give Ukraine much more opportunities. I am grateful to each and every person who works for this!”
Journalist Evan Gershkovich has appealed a Moscow court’s decision to extend his detention through November, according to Russian state news agency Tass. Gershkovich is being held before trial on espionage charges that both the U.S. government and the Wall Street Journal, his employer, say are baseless.
Analysis from our correspondents
Prigozhin’s lingering popularity is posing a challenge for Putin: Russians mourning the Wagner Group leader’s presumed death have set up memorials in nearly two dozen cities across the country and in occupied Ukraine in recent days — a sign of the commander’s lingering popularity and a potential challenge for President Vladimir Putin, who is currently facing divisions within the elite and in the military, Robyn Dixon writes.
“Prigozhin, despite declaring loyalty to Putin, put his regime in jeopardy and showed his weakness for which he received the inevitable punishment. I think the elites understood this signal very well,” said Dmitry Kolezev, a Russian analyst and independent journalist who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. “At the same time, there is a broader audience of military activists, supporters of the Wagner PMC and Wagner veterans, among whom there is a cult of Prigozhin,” he added.
Mary Ilyushina, Francesca Ebel and Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report.
