Russian President Vladimir Putin praised mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman on Thursday and said he wished to express sincere condolences to the families of those who died in a plane crash a day earlier. Putin's words came as Zelensky marked his country's independence day with an address congratulating Ukrainians and praising the military personnel pushing back against Russian forces. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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00:05am: Zelensky speaks with Biden
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said early on Friday he spoke with US President Joe Biden.
Zelenskiy said he thanked Biden for his Ukraine Independence Day greetings and support in the conflict with Russia.
“Together, we prove that freedom and independence are worth fighting for,” he said in a statement.
10:11pm: 'Putin is trying to have it both ways' on the Prigozhin plane crash
Putin's messages of condolences for Prigozhin's family show "he is trying to have it both ways," says FRANCE 24's ex-Moscow correspondent Nick Holdsworth.
It's "classic Putin", says Holdsworth. "Prigozhin is safely out of the way now, yet he wants to honour and celebrate the heritage of the Wagner mercenary group."
9:13pm: Pentagon dismisses missile strike theory for Prigozhin plane crash
The US Department of Defence said Thursday there was currently no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Prigozhin.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, offered no further details or evidence as he made his remarks at a Pentagon news conference.
Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused Prigozhin’s plane to crash, and cited two US officials saying a surface-to-air missile likely hit it.
8:54pm: Pentagon announces F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots
The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the United States would begin flight training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft in October.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the training would begin after the Ukrainian pilots received English language training in September. The flight training would take place in Arizona, Ryder added.
8:03pm: Top Biden adviser meets with European counterparts to discuss Ukraine
US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom on Thursday at the White House, where they reiterated their support for Ukraine, the White House said.
Sullivan and his counterparts reaffirmed their commitment to aid in Ukraine’s reconstruction, the White House said in a statement. They also discussed the situation in Niger and issues regarding the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, it added.
6:20pm: Russia's Putin sends condolences over crash, says Prigozhin was 'talented businessman'
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman on Thursday and said he wished to express sincere condolences to the families of those who died in a plane crash a day earlier.
Putin added in televised comments that it was necessary to await the outcome of the official investigation into the crash, in which all 10 people on board were killed, saying the examination would take some time.
5:04pm Still 'radio silence' from Kremlin 24 hours after plane crash
Despite reactions already coming from Washington, Kyiv and Paris, there is still no word from Moscow on Prigozhin's plane crash says FRANCE 24's political commentator Doug Herbert.
There has been "radio silence", says Herbert. "Not a single senior Russian official – nearly 24 hours after we first got news of this plane crash northwest of Moscow – has commented on it."
4:42pm: Missile from inside Russia likely shot down Prigozhin's plane, say US officials
The United States believes a surface-to-air missile originating from inside Russia likely shot down the plane presumed to be carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Wednesday, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, stressed that the information was still preliminary and under review.
3:12pm: Belarus, St. Petersburg and Mali: What was Prigozhin doing before the plane crash?
After the Wagner Group's failed mutiny on June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin was reported to be first in Belarus and then in Saint Petersburg for the Africa-Russia summit. Three days ago, he appeared in an unverified video, placing him in Mali.
FRANCE 24's Cyril Payen discusses the mystery of what Prigozhin was doing in the lead-up to his reported death in a plane crash.
2:34pm: 'There are still unanswered questions' on Prigozhin death
It is "likely" that there was Russian state involvement in the Prigozhin plane crash says senior politics lecturer at Bath University Patrick Bury.
"We don't have all the evidence, of course, but from what we can see and what we can deduce, it potentially points towards (foul play)", Burys said. "There are still a few unanswered questions."
1:37pm: Zelensky says Ukraine was not involved in Prigozhin's reported death
Ukraine was not involved in the reported death of Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin, Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted President Volodymyr Zelensky as saying on Thursday.
"We had nothing to do with it. Everybody realises who has something to do with it," Zelensky was quoted as telling journalists.
12:47pm: Ukraine says it conducted 'special operation' in Russian-occupied Crimea
Ukraine's navy and military intelligence carried out a "special operation" overnight in which units landed on Russian-occupied Crimea, the defence ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said on Thursday.
The operation, which FRANCE 24 was unable to independently confirm, would amount to a rare demonstration that Ukrainian forces are able to stage ground operations in Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.
Brief and dark video footage posted alongside the statement showed a small motorboat moving through water at night near a coastline. HUR said the landing point was on the western tip of Crimea, near the settlements of Olenivka and Mayak.
"Special units on watercraft landed on the shore in the area of the Olenivka and Mayak settlements," HUR said in a statement.
It said "all goals" had been achieved and casualties inflicted on the enemy, but did not identify the goals.
"Also, the state flag flew again in Ukrainian Crimea," it said, without saying where exactly or providing further details.
Russia did not comment on the report.
12:32pm: Germany says 'no accident' Kremlin in focus over Prigozhin death
The presumed death of Wagner chief Prigozhin follows a pattern of "unclarified" fatalities in Russia, Germany's foreign minister said Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus has turned to the Kremlin for answers.
"It is no accident that the world immediately looks at the Kremlin when a disgraced former confidant of Putin suddenly, literally falls from the sky two months after he attempted a mutiny," said Annalena Baerbock, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We know this pattern in Putin's Russia: deaths, dubious suicides, falls from windows, all which remain unclarified – that underlines a dictatorial power system that is built on violence," she said at a press conference with the Kyrgyz foreign minister.
12:02pm: Norway to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine
Norway has decided to donate F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
It did not say how many jets Norway would provide.
11:48am: Russian court fines Twitch 3 million roubles for not deleting Ukraine 'fakes'
A Russian court on Thursday fined the streaming service Twitch three million roubles ($31,785) for failure to delete what it said were "fakes" about the war in Ukraine, Interfax reported.
11:06am: North Korea says US driving Ukraine crisis to nuclear disaster
North Korea blamed the United States on Thursday for driving the Ukraine crisis into a global nuclear disaster by supplying F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian forces and said Washington had no right to criticise Pyongyang's military cooperation with Russia.
11:04am: Germany deplores weak impact of Russia sanctions
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed disappointment that Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine were not having an "economic impact".
The United States and the European Union have levied unprecedented sanctions against Moscow to limit Russia's ability to finance its war effort. But while the pressure has held, the Russian economy has not collapsed under the weight of sanctions, as had been predicted in some quarters.
"Economic sanctions should have an economic impact. But that is not the case," Baerbock told journalist Stephen Lamby in an interview for his new book "Emergency" published Thursday.
"We have learnt that with rational decisions, rational measures, agreed between civilised governments, it is not possible to end this war," Baerbock said in the interview carried out on July 10. "The logic of democracy does not work in autocracies," she said of the book, which examines the German government's response to the conflict in Ukraine.
9:36am: Russian court extends US reporter Evan Gershkovich's detention by three months
Russia on Thursday extended the detention of US reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March on spy charges that he denies and held in a Moscow prison since, by three months.
Read moreFormer correspondents in Russia call for release of journalist Evan Gershkovich
"The time of detention has been extended by three months ... Until November 30, 2023," a spokesperson for Moscow's Lefortovsky court said.
9:33am: France sees 'reasonable doubts' over Prigozhin plane crash, says govt spokesman
France said Thursday that there were "reasonable doubts" about the cause of the plane crash that presumably killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's Wagner paramilitary group.
"We don't yet know the circumstances of this crash. We can have some reasonable doubts," government spokesman Olivier Veran told France 2 television.
Asked about US President Joe Biden's claim that little "happens in Russia that (President Vladimir) Putin is not behind", Veran agreed that "as a general rule, that's a truth that can be established".
Prigozhin was "the man who did Putin's dirty work. What he has done is inseparable from the policies of Putin, who gave him responsibility to carry out abuses as the head of Wagner", he said. "Prigozhin leaves behind him mass graves. He leaves behind him messes across a large part of the globe, I'm thinking of Africa, Ukraine, and Russia itself."
8:57am: Zelensky hails Ukrainians as 'free people' on independence day
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday marked his country's independence day with an address congratulating Ukrainians and praising the military personnel who are pushing back against Russian forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
"Today we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of our independence – the independence of Ukraine. A holiday of free people," Zelensky said in an statement on social media.
8:44am: Wagner chief Prigozhin is 'not going to be missed' in Ukraine
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24's Emmanuelle Chaze says that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is presumed dead following a plane crash on Wednesday, "is not going to be missed" in Ukraine, as he is "a figure that has been despised and hated" because of "all the crimes" that Wagner has committed there.
The head of the Wagner Group, which was "instrumental in the fall of Bakhmut" in eastern Ukraine, "didn't hide his spite for Ukrainians", says Chaze. She adds that many people in Kyiv are not convinced of his death, as only Russian sources have confirmed it so far.
6:44am: Air strike injures seven people in Ukraine's Dnipro
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Serhiy Lisak said on Thursday.
Three men and four women were among the wounded, he said.
6:05am: Russia says it downed three Ukrainian drones over Russian regions
The Russian Defence Ministry said early on Thursday air defence systems had shot down three Ukrainian drones over Russian regions.
Two drones were downed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine and one more – over the Kaluga region that is closer to Moscow.
5:45am: Ukraine says Russia lost two bombers in attacks on airfields
Ukraine's intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said recent attacks on Russian airfields had destroyed two TU-22 bombers and damaged two more bombers.
"Two were destroyed, two were damaged. Two can not be repaired," Budanov said in a TV interview on Wednesday night for the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
He said a fifth Russian aircraft could have been hit.
Russian officials reported drone attacks on military airfields in Soltsy in the Novgorod region on Saturday and Shaykovka in the Kaluga region on Monday and said that one warplane was damaged during the first attack.
10:46pm: Prigozhin 'a murderer' who 'won't be missed', says Belarusian opposition head
Exiled Belarusian opposition chief Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said no Belarusian would miss Wagner chief Prigozhin, who is presumed dead in a plane crash.
Some Wagner fighters moved to Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.
"The criminal Prigozhin won't be missed in Belarus. He was a murderer and should be remembered as such. His death might dismantle Wagner's presence in Belarus, reducing the threat to our nation and neighbours," Tikhanovskaya said on social media.
10:21pm: Prigozhin on board crashed plane, says Russia's aviation authority
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner group commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people on board a plane involved in a fatal crash north of Moscow on Wednesday, Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.
Rosaviatsia published the names of seven passengers, including Prigozhin and Utkin, and three crew members it said had been on board.
Key developments from Wednesday, August 23:
Russian emergency services announced on Wednesday that a private plane travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg had crashed, killing all 10 passengers. Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia confirmed that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board.
Russian state media reported on Wednesday that General Sergei Surovikin, the head of Russia's aerospace force, had been sacked, after he disappeared from public view following a failed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group in June. Surovikin was a leading commander in Moscow's war in Ukraine and had long been seen as Wagner's ally in the defence ministry.
At least four employees were killed in a Russian strike on Wednesday that destroyed a Ukrainian school 10 days before the start of the new school year.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
