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Russia confirms Prigozhin’s death; Zelensky says Kyiv’s push toward Crimea is key

Russia confirms Prigozhin’s death; Zelensky says Kyiv’s push toward Crimea is key
Bloomberg
By Bloomberg
27 Aug 2023
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Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash last week was confirmed on Sunday by Russian investigators, based on a DNA test. The fatal flight, which killed all 10 people aboard including other top Wagner officials, came two months after the mercenary group staged a failed coup against Russia’s military leadership.

Ukraine would risk losing crucial support from allies if it takes the war into Russian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a lengthy TV interview on Sunday. He said the “demilitarisation” of Russia could come through political means if Ukrainian forces can reach Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Zelensky, whose term is due to end in 2024, sounded sceptical about calls for new elections during wartime. Ukraine introduced martial law after Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and that remains in place. Zelensky said a vote could be held if Parliament changed the law, if the EU and the US kicked in $5-billion to finance the vote, and if “international monitors would be ready to work in frontline trenches”.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that it dispatched an Su-30 military plane to intercept a US Reaper reconnaissance drone that approached the Russian border over the Black Sea. The drone moved away from the border when the jet approached. The Pentagon hasn’t commented. A similar incident took place earlier this month. 

Ukraine overnight repelled four Russian cruise missiles, fired from strategic bombers and headed toward Kyiv, the country’s air force said. Several private homes were damaged by falling debris.

Latest developments



 

Ukraine says second ship to sail from Odesa reaches Romania


A Liberian-flagged bulk carrier that was the second ship to sail from Odesa since Russia quit the Black Sea safe-transit deal has reached Romanian waters, Zelensky said. 

The Singapore-operated Primus successfully navigated the temporary Black Sea corridor set up by Ukraine, Zelensky said on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter. 

Kyiv created the shipping lane after the grain export deal with Russia, brokered in 2022 by the UN and Turkey as a way for Ukraine to resume its shipments of grains, collapsed in July.  

Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said earlier that the Primus had been in port since 20 February 2022, days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, loaded with steel products for African countries.

Ukraine probes jet crash that killed decorated pilot ‘Juice’


Ukrainian authorities are investigating the crash of two military jets that killed three pilots, including a decorated airman known for his lobbying of Kyiv’s allies to provide them with F-16 fighters.

The accident happened on Friday when the L-39 combat training planes collided in midair in the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv and hundreds of miles from the frontline.

“A catastrophe in the sky over the Zhytomyr region killed three pilots, including Andriy Pilschikov, call-sign ‘Juice’,” Zelensky said on Platform X. “The investigation is ongoing, and the truth will be revealed. Ukraine will never forget all those who defended its free sky.”

The accident and death of one of Ukraine’s most experienced and talented pilots dealt an unexpected blow to Kyiv, which is rushing to send its airmen for training to switch from Soviet-era Mig-29 fighters to more advanced F-16s that have been pledged by Nato allies as soon as early next year.

Read more: Ukraine to get F-16s from Nato allies, with Denmark pledging 19

Ukraine’s officials will investigate “the technical condition of the aircraft, compliance with the rules of preparation for flights” and the black boxes of the jets, they said. 

Captain Pilschikov, who hailed from Kharkiv, spoke fluent English and won fame as part of the “Ghost of Kyiv” unit that engaged Russian jets in dogfights above Ukraine at the start of Moscow’s invasion in early 2022. He was one of the country’s most vocal proponents for the supply of the more capable Nato aircraft.

Also killed were Major Viacheslav Minka of Kyiv, and Major Serhii Prokazin, from the Poltava region, Ukraine’s defence authorities said. All three pilots were described as highly experienced, with hundreds of hours of battle mission flights under their belts.

Wagner chief Prigozhin’s death confirmed by investigators 


Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash last week was confirmed by Russian investigators, as speculation over a possible Kremlin-ordered execution continues to swirl. 

DNA tests showed that all 10 passengers and crew listed as having boarded the private jet on August 23 were killed, according to a statement on the Russian Investigative Committee’s website on Sunday. 

Prigozhin led a failed mutiny in June against Vladimir Putin’s military leaders that threatened the Russian president’s nearly quarter-century grip on power. The US has said the plane crash may have been an assassination approved by Putin himself, suggestions that the president’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed as “an absolute lie”.

The jet, an Embraer SA Legacy 600, was cruising straight and level on course from Moscow to St Petersburg until it suddenly began behaving erratically for a few seconds and then plunged, according to enhanced flight-track data from Flightradar24 earlier last week. Video from the scene showed the plane dropping from the sky.

Also on the jet were some of Prigozhin’s top lieutenants, including Dmitry Utkin, a former military intelligence officer and key figure in Wagner since its founding in 2014 to support a Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, which laid the groundwork for the current war. Valeriy Chekalov, who was responsible for Wagner’s operational finances, was also on board, authorities said earlier.

Early US assessments indicated the jet may have been destroyed by a bomb on board in a hit that was probably approved by Putin, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The UK is also working on the assumption that the plane was brought down deliberately, although the exact cause of the crash is still not clear, an official there said.  

G7 will support Ukraine for as long as it takes, says Trudeau 


Group of Seven leaders understand that the war in Ukraine may be lengthy but are prepared to support the country for as long as it takes, Canada’s prime minister said in an interview.

“We’ve always known this was going to be a long process,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when asked how the Ukraine counteroffensive was progressing. “Certainly from the conversations we’ve had at the G7 and Nato, we are ready for a war that will take as long as it needs to, because we cannot and must not let Russia win.”

Trudeau made the comments during an interview about Canada’s Arctic on the sidelines of the Seventh Global Environment Facility Assembly in Vancouver.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to heightened geostrategic interest in the global Arctic. Once Sweden joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Russia will be the only Arctic nation that is not a member.  

Meanwhile, Trudeau’s government has pledged C$40-billion ($29-billion) over 20 years to upgrade Norad, the continental air defence system, and has committed to replacing ageing CF-18s with F-35 fighter jets, in part because of concerns about Arctic security, Trudeau said.

“Whether it’s building more polar ice breakers, whether it’s the Arctic offshore patrol ships that we’ve just completed — these are things where we’re continuing to invest because security in the Arctic is a real challenge,” he said. DM

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