Closing Summary
It is now 12am in Kyiv. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Pat Ryder said the Pentagon had no indication that the plane carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin was brought down by a surface-to-air missile. “We assess that information to be inaccurate,” Ryder said of press reports that the Embraer plane was hit by surface-to-air missiles.
The US will begin F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots in October. “Following English language training for pilots in September, F-16 flying training is expected to begin in October at Morris air national guard base in Tucson, Arizona, facilitated by the air national guard’s 162nd wing,” Ryder said.
Russia will return to the Black Sea grain deal only if the west fulfills its obligations to Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN secretary general António Guterres.
Russia has extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich by three months. He was the first journalist arrested by Russian authorities on allegations of spying since the Cold War.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Kyiv had nothing to do with the presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lisak, said on Thursday.
France said on Thursday there were “reasonable doubts” about the cause of the plane crash that was presumed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Norway has decided to donate combat aircraft to Ukraine, the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin follows a pattern of “unclarified” fatalities in Russia, Germany’s foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that it was no coincidence that focus had turned to the Kremlin for answers.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today.
Updated
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has announced sanctions of two entities and 11 individuals over their involvement in the forcible transfer of Ukraine’s children to Russia-occupied areas.
Today, on Ukraine Independence Day, @StateDept is sanctioning two entities and 11 individuals for their involvement in the forcible transfer of Ukraine’s children to Russia-occupied areas. Ukraine’s children are not forgotten.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 24, 2023
