Wagner chief Prigozhin killed
Joe Biden’s remarks about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s suspected death in a plane crash near Moscow were unacceptable, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.
The US president said on Wednesday that he was not surprised by the reports of Mr Prigozhin’s death, adding that not much happens in Russia that Vladimir Putin is not behind.
The crash, which killed 10 people on Wednesday, is widely claimed to be an assassination to avenge Mr Prigozhin’s mutiny in June that challenged Russia’s military leadership.
After 24 hours of silence on the matter, Vladimir Putin appeared to eulogise Mr Prigozhin as “a talented businessman” who made “serious mistakes”, and sent his condolences to the families of those killed.
Kyiv’s military, meanwhile, claimed further gains in the Zaporizhizia region, where the Institute for the Study of War think-tank said geolocated footage suggested Ukraine was now advancing towards Russia’s second line of defence, after a dramatic breakthrough near the village of Robotyne.
Russia also accused Ukraine of firing a missile towards Moscow and claimed to have downed scores of drones targeting annexed Crimea.
