Ukraine-Russia war live: Wagner boss ‘confirmed dead by genetic tests’ as Putin orders mercenaries’ allegiance

The committee said in a statement Sunday that after forensic testing, all 10 bodies recovered at the site of the crash were identified, and their identities “conform to the manifest.”

Russia’s civil aviation authority earlier this week said Prigozhin, along with some of his top lieutenants, were on the list of those on board the plane that crashed Wednesday.

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death shows that Ukraine’s decision to engage in the brutal fight for Bakhmut “was the right choice”, an expert has suggested.

Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at St Andrew’s University, said: “The losses Wagner suffered led to Prigozhin’s growing split with the Russian military. The longer the campaign lasted the more angry he became, and this led directly to the mutiny attempt. No Bakhmut, no mutiny. The mutiny not only crippled Wagner; it’s weakened Putin.

“Wagner fought relatively well at Bakhmut, and with some real aggression. If the Ukrainians had abandoned Bakhmut, it would have preserved large number of Wagner forces, allowed them to recruit more, all of whom would be fighting Ukrainians now. Russia would have real reserves.”

Russia and Ukraine have been stationing troops, aircraft and long-range missile systems on oil rigs in the Black Sea between Crimea and Odesa, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed.

“As tensions remain high in the Black Sea, skirmishes have taken place between maritime and air forces around strategically important gas and oil platforms between Crimea and Odesa,” the ministry said.

“Last week, a Russian combat jet shot at a Ukrainian military small boat operating near a platform in the north-west of the sea. The platforms are operated by the Chernomorneftegaz company, which was seized by the pro-Russian occupation authorities in Crimea during the 2014 annexation.

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has struck several Russian-controlled platforms. Both Russia and Ukraine have also periodically occupied them with troops.

“The platforms command valuable hydrocarbon resources. However, like Snake Island to the west, they can also be used as forward deployment bases, helicopter landing sites, and to position long-range missile systems.”

Russia’s defence ministry claims its forces shot down two drones overnight in the Bryansk and Kursk regions, which both border Ukraine.

“The regime in Kiev made further attempts to commit terror attacks using fixed-wing drones on targets in the Russian Federation during the night and in the morning of Aug. 27,” the ministry said on Telegram. It gave no information about possible casualties or damage.

The governor of Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, posted pictures on his Telegram channel which he said showed damage caused by a drone to an apartment block in the city of Kursk, with windows blown out.

But the Kyiv Post reports that a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed Ukraine hit five Russian fighter jets in a drone strike on Kursk airfield, hitting four Su-30s, one MiG-29 – in addition to damaging two Pantsir missile launchers and an S-300 air defence system.

The source claimed that “only 3 of [the drones] were shot down by a leaky air defense system of Russia”, and noted that Russian officials recorded at least 13 explosions.

The decree was published on the Kremlin’s website and signed with immediate effect by Mr Putin, as his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that claims Prigozhin had been killed on the Russian president’s orders were an “absolute lie”.

The wording of the oath includes a line in which those who take it promise to strictly follow the orders of commanders and senior leaders, as questions hang over the fate of the mercenaries – many of whom had already relocated to Belarus following their mutinous march on Moscow in June.

Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a midair collision between two warplanes in the west of the country killed three pilots.

Ukraine’s air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian television on Sunday it wasn’t immediately clear how long the probe would take.

According to the air force’s Telegram page, two L-39 training military aircraft collided on Friday during a combat mission over Ukraine’s western Zhytomyr region. Three pilots were killed, including Andriy Pilshchykov, a well-known pilot with the nickname “Juice” who was an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nightly address on Saturday paid tribute to Pilshchykov, describing him as a “Ukrainian officer, one of those who helped our country a lot.”

Russia launched an overnight air attack against Ukraine on Sunday, sending missiles over other northern and central parts of the country, authorities said.

The Ukrainian military reported shooting down four cruise missiles out of up to eight total airborne targets detected, adding that the rest of the targets were “probably false”.

It also said there were no immediate reports of strikes.

The governor of Kyiv region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said two people had been wounded and 10 buildings damaged by falling missile debris in one unspecified area of the region.

“Thanks to the professional work of the air defence forces, there were no strikes on critical or residential infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for about three hours early on Sunday before they were cleared at around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT).

This is the moment Russian officials confirmed the death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Moscow

Russia‘s Investigation Committee said the results of genetic tests had confirmed the identities of the 10 people who died in a plane crash last Wednesday and they included the founder of the Wagner mercenary group.

The statement reads: As part of the investigation of the plane crash in the Tver region, molecular genetic examinations have been completed. According to their results, the identities of all 10 dead were established, they correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet.”

Once a businessman with a catering empire friendly with Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin manoeuvred himself into a position so powerful that, as Russia’s war in Ukraine progressed, he could openly question his paymasters’ strategy.

The owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, the mercenary force that has fought some of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine – most notably the drawn-out pursuit of Bakhmut – the 62-year-old stepped into his most dangerous role yet this summer: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership.

Now, two months after his men’s attempted uprising ended in uneasy peace talks, Prigozhin is dead in a plane crash just outside of Moscow.