Ukraine war – live: Putin breaks silence on Prigozhin death as spy chiefs say explosion caused plane crash

Vladimir Putin has praised Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as “a talented businessman”.

Breaking his 24-hour silence on the crash, the Russian president sent his condolences to the families of all 10 people killed when the private jet crashed near Moscow.

The outcome of the official investigation into the crash must be awaited, which would take some time, Mr Putin said.

He made the remarks while speaking with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, in a televised interview.

In a televised speech, the Russian president offered his condolences to the families of the 10 people who died in the crash on Wednesday evening, while appearing to eulogise Mr Prigozhin, 62, as a “talented businessman”:

The US Department of Defense has said there is no information to suggest that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane presumed to be carrying Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, offered no evidence or further details on what US officials believe caused the crash.

Reuters had reported earlier that the United States was looking at a number of theories over what caused the plane to crash, and cited two US officials saying a surface-to-air missile was likely to have hit it.

“We don’t have any information to indicate right now the press reporting stating that there was some type of surface-to-air missile that took down the plane,” Ryder told reporters.

It is not uncommon for there to be competing, even contradictory, intelligence views in the US government in the hours and days after major international events.

The United States will begin flight training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in October, the Pentagon has announced.

The training in Arizona will begin after the pilots receive English language tuition next month, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

Several pilots and dozens of aircraft maintenance crew will be involved, Ryder added.

On Sunday, Denmark and the Netherlands pledged to donate F-16s to Ukraine.

Ukrainians celebrated their country’s independence day:

The Wagner Group has become best known for its involvement in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, but the private army, which Prigozhin claimed had 25,000 soldiers at the beginning of the war, has been around since 2014 and has been involved in several other conflicts. This is how it began and progressed:

When this photograph was taken 12 years ago, little did anyone know that Mr Prigozhin would later lead an armed rebellion against Vladimir Putin, ending with his suspected assassination.

The picture, from 2011, shows Mr Prigozhin, whose catering empire won huge state contracts, serving food to Mr Putin at one of his restaurants outside Moscow:

Mr Prigozhin’s supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed, including suggesting it could have been hit by a missile or targeted by a bomb on board. Those claims could not be independently verified.

Alexander Baunov, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, said it was a signature tactic of dictatorial regimes to “bring an enemy or a traitor closer before destruction”, as criminal clans do.

Sergei Mironov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, suggested on his Telegram channel that Mr Prigozhin had been killed by enemies.

Police officers kept guard at a checkpoint near the site of the crash.

The deaths of the leaders of the mercenary group will leave it without a viable leadership or successors as it faces a fraught and uncertain future. Some argue they may have been overconfident:

A witness to the crash has described how something was torn from the plane as it fell to the ground.

Anastasia Bukharova, 27, said she was walking with her children in Kuzhenkino when she saw the jet. “And then — boom! — it exploded in the sky and began to fall down.”

She said she was scared it would hit houses in the village and ran with the children, but it ended up crashing into a field.

“Something sort of was torn from it in the air, and it began to go down and down,” she added.

Police cordoned off the field where the plane went down in Kuzhenkino, about 185 miles northwest of Moscow, as investigators studied its wreckage. Vehicles took away the bodies.

Several Russian social media channels have reported that the bodies were burned or disfigured beyond recognition and would need to be identified by DNA.