Russian committee confirms Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in plane crash; Ukraine says a second vessel has safely travelled through the Black Sea from Odesa
Russia’s investigative committee, which looks into serious crimes, said it had confirmed that the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was among the people killed in Wednesday’s plane crash. After forensic testing, all 10 bodies recovered at the site had been identified, and their identities “conform to the manifest”. The committee did not offer any details as to what might have caused the crash.
A senior Ukrainian government official has confirmed the safe passage of a second vessel through the Black Sea from Ukraine’s port of Odesa, after Russia’s withdrawal in July from a UN-brokered deal allowing the export of grain.
Russia’s defence ministry said it sent a fighter plane in response to a US air force reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. The Tass news agency said the drone had not breached Russia’s state border.
Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a midair collision between two warplanes in the west of the country killed three pilots. One of the pilots, Andriy “Juice” Pilshchykov, had travelled to Washington DC last summer to meet members of the US Cоngress and lobby for F-16 planes.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said national elections could take place during wartime if international partners shared the cost, legislators approved, and everyone got to the polls. Zelenskiy was responding to comments from the US senator Lindsey Graham who, while praising the war effort, said Ukraine needed to show it was different by holding elections in wartime.
The co-founder of Russian tech company Yandex has made a formal request to have EU sanctions on him lifted, in a potential test of whether the EU will take a more sympathetic view of figures who distance themselves from the Kremlin.
Russia reported another series of drone attacks on its territory in the early hours of Sunday. Officials said the strikes killed at least one person in a region bordering Ukraine and again forced the temporary closure of three major airports serving the capital, Moscow.
