Russia Confirms Death Of Wagner Mercenary Chief In Plane Crash

"According to their results, the identities of the victims were established, and they correspond to the list stated in the flight list," the commission stated.

Moscow: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was officially pronounced dead on Sunday as a result of DNA testing, according to authorities, as resentment and concerns over the cause of his jet crash earlier this week continued to grow.

Given that the tragedy occurred precisely two months after Wagner led a mutiny against Moscow's military leadership, there has been much speculation that the Kremlin may have been involved in the accident.

As part of the inquiry into the jet crash in the Tver region, molecular-genetic tests have been finished, according to Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee.

"According to their results, the identities of all 10 victims were established, and they correspond to the list stated in the flight list," she continued.

Dmitry Utkin, a mysterious figure who oversaw Wagner's operations and purportedly worked in Russian military intelligence, was one of the nine other people listed as being on the Embraer private plane that crashed on Wednesday.

Makeshift memorials

After the incident, Russian authorities launched an inquiry into air traffic violations, although they have not yet provided information regarding the crash's potential causes.

The incident, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was "tragic" and he called Yevgeny Prigozhin's alleged murder on Moscow's instructions a "absolute lie" in a press conference on Friday.

His remarks coincided with the Kremlin appearing to restrain organizations like Wagner, as seen by the presidential directive signed on Friday requiring paramilitary members to swear allegiance to the Russian flag.

President Vladimir Putin stated that he has known Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former ally, since the early 1990s and described him as a man who made mistakes but "achieved results" in a speech on Thursday.

His remarks did little to quell the questions and ire that were growing over the death of the mercenary's leader, however, as impromptu shrines to Yevgeny Prigozhin began to appear in Russian cities.

A video seen by AFP captured men standing silently in front of a row of red roses and images of the mercenary leader at a makeshift memorial on Moscow's Varvarka Boulevard, close outside the Kremlin.

One man wearing a clothing with the letter "Z"—a representation of Russia's incursion in Ukraine—said, "He was killed."

"His adversaries killed him. We won't identify them. That which the investigation reveals. However, we are hopeful that those responsible for this crime will be brought to justice," he continued.

Another man who was speculating about who was to blame told AFP that Yevgeny Prigozhin had "plenty of enemies" while standing near the memorial.

"Prigozhin had a lot of enemies in our country, abroad, in Ukraine, and in Africa," remarked Renat, 53.

Wagner forces, which Moscow employed to conduct some of the fiercest fighting in the Ukraine conflict, also kept a sizable military presence in Africa.

Similar monuments were discovered all throughout the nation, in places like Perm and Saint Petersburg, the former imperial capital of Russia and the location of Prigozhin's birth.

Drone strikes

On Sunday, hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv escalated further as Ukraine reported an overnight attack and Russia claimed its border regions had once more been targeted by drones.

Since Kiev announced in July that it intended to "return" the conflict to Russian territory, Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow has annexed, have been subjected to practically daily attacks in the past month.

After the governor of the Belgorod area claimed a drone carrying explosives had murdered a civilian the previous day, Moscow's defense ministry reported two Ukrainian drones flying over border territories on Sunday had been rejected.

A drone reportedly crashed into an apartment building in Kursk city overnight, blowing out windows on multiple stories, according to the governor of Russia's Kursk area, which is close to the Ukrainian border.

While posting a picture of what seemed to be a burnt mark on a tower block, governor Roman Starovoit claimed on social media that "there were no fires, and none of the residents were hurt."

On Sunday, Ukraine was also a target as its air force reported shooting down four cruise missiles in the north and center of the nation during another Russian airstrike overnight.

Ruslan Kravchenko, the commander of Kyiv's regional military administration, claimed that 10 residences had been destroyed and two individuals had been hurt as a result of falling missile fragments.

'Juice'

While major personalities paid respect to the renowned fighter ace "Juice" who was killed in the crash, Ukraine lamented the death of three pilots who died in a mid-air collision on Friday.

Two combat training aircraft were involved in a crash, dealing Kyiv a devastating blow as it sought to upgrade its Soviet-era air force with modern F-16 jets.

Major Vyacheslav Minka, Major Sergiy Prokazin, and Captain Andrii Pilshchykov—better known by his call sign "Juice"—were the three people that perished, according to the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, "each of them was participating in air operations for the defense of Ukraine," the statement read. "This included tactical missions in the east and in the Zaporizhzhia area.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president, promised to look into what transpired.

(This article, which is published from a syndicated feed and hasn't been edited by me except for the headline,.)