Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks early Wednesday, officials said, with Kyiv apparently targeting Moscow again and the Kremlin’s forces launching another bombardment of Ukrainian grain storage depots in what have recently become signature tactics in the almost 18-month war. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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8:57am: Zelensky hails Ukrainians as ‘free people’ on independence day
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday marked his country’s independence day with an address congratulating Ukrainians and praising the military personnel who are pushing back against Russian forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
“Today we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of our independence – the independence of Ukraine. A holiday of free people,” Zelensky said in an statement on social media.
Happy Ukraine’s Independence Day!
The day of the free, the strong, and the dignified. The day of equals. Ukrainian men and women. In our entire country.
In this fight, everyone counts. Because the fight is for something that is important to everyone.
An independent Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/tUYTsn3TrE
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 24, 2023
8:44am: Wagner chief Prigozhin is ‘not going to be missed’ in Ukraine
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze says that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is presumed dead following a plane crash on Wednesday, “is not going to be missed” in Ukraine, as he is “a figure that has been despised and hated” because of “all the crimes” that Wagner has committed there.
The head of the Wagner Group, which was “instrumental in the fall of Bakhmut” in eastern Ukraine, “didn’t hide his spite for Ukrainians”, says Chaze. She adds that many people in Kyiv are not convinced of his death, as only Russian sources have confirmed it so far.
6:44am: Air strike injures seven people in Ukraine’s Dnipro
An early morning missile strike injured seven people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Serhiy Lisak said on Thursday.
Three men and four women were among the wounded, he said.
6:05am: Russia says it downed three Ukrainian drones over Russian regions
The Russian Defence Ministry said early on Thursday air defence systems had shot down three Ukrainian drones over Russian regions.
Two drones were downed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine and one more – over the Kaluga region that is closer to Moscow.
5:45am: Ukraine says Russia lost two bombers in attacks on airfields
Ukraine’s intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said recent attacks on Russian airfields had destroyed two TU-22 bombers and damaged two more bombers.
“Two were destroyed, two were damaged. Two can not be repaired,” Budanov said in a TV interview on Wednesday night for the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
He said a fifth Russian aircraft could have been hit.
Russian officials reported drone attacks on military airfields in Soltsy in the Novgorod region on Saturday and Shaykovka in the Kaluga region on Monday and said that one warplane was damaged during the first attack.
10:46pm: Prigozhin ‘a murderer’ who ‘won’t be missed’, says Belarusian opposition head
Exiled Belarusian opposition chief Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said no Belarusian would miss Wagner chief Prigozhin, who is presumed dead in a plane crash.
Some Wagner fighters moved to Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.
“The criminal Prigozhin won’t be missed in Belarus. He was a murderer and should be remembered as such. His death might dismantle Wagner’s presence in Belarus, reducing the threat to our nation and neighbours,” Tikhanovskaya said on social media.
The criminal Prigozhin won’t be missed in Belarus. He was a murderer & should be remembered as such. His death might dismantle Wagner’s presence in Belarus, reducing the threat to our nation & neighbors. No one should trust Lukashenka’s “security guarantees” or any of his deals.
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) August 23, 2023
10:21pm: Prigozhin on board crashed plane, says Russia’s aviation authority
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner group commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people on board a plane involved in a fatal crash north of Moscow on Wednesday, Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.
Rosaviatsia published the names of seven passengers, including Prigozhin and Utkin, and three crew members it said had been on board.
9:53pm: ‘I would not at all be surprised if US intelligence foresaw something like this’
FRANCE 24 discusses the US response to Prigozhin’s possible death with the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith.
“The US has often been ahead of the game on this … I would not at all be surprised if US intelligence foresaw something like this,” says Smith.
Key developments from Wednesday, August 23:
Russian emergency services announced on Wednesday that a private plane travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg had crashed, killing all 10 passengers. Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia confirmed that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board.
Russian state media reported on Wednesday that General Sergei Surovikin, the head of Russia’s aerospace force, had been sacked, after he disappeared from public view following a failed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group in June. Surovikin was a leading commander in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and had long been seen as Wagner’s ally in the defence ministry.
At least four employees were killed in a Russian strike on Wednesday that destroyed a Ukrainian school 10 days before the start of the new school year.
Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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