Zelensky says Putin killed Wagner chief Prigozhin

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine´s president on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash last month.

“He killed Prigozhin, at least we all have this information and not any other,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech. He said the incident showed that the Russian leader was now “politically weak”.

Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, died with nine other people when a plane flying from Moscow to Saint Petersburg crashed on August 23. Exactly two months earlier, Prigozhin had openly challenged Russia´s military high command by leading a short-lived mutiny with his fighters that threatened to spiral into civil conflict.

Observers have said this was the most significant challenge to Putin´s rule. Prigozhin called off the rebellion after apparently striking a deal with the Kremlin through the mediation of Belarus but he faced no criminal prosecution.

The Kremlin has dismissed suggestions that it orchestrated the crash in revenge for Wagner´s march on Moscow in June. Russian investigators have said they are probing all possible scenarios surrounding the crash, including premeditated murder.