1 killed, 1 wounded in Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia region
From CNN's Olga Voitovych
At least one person was killed and another wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region in the past day, according to Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia military administration.
"Over the past day, the enemy fired 85 times at 26 settlements in Zaporizhzhia region," Malashko said in a post on Telegram Friday.
"Unfortunately, a 58-year-old resident of Mala Tokmachka was killed," he said, and added that a 59-year-old man was also injured during shelling on the village.
Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, one person was injured in the Kherson region after Russian attacks over the past day, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region military administration.
Prokudin said Russian attacks hit residential areas of the region's settlements, a critical infrastructure facility, a building of an educational institution and territories of two farms. The attacks also hit a business and gym in Kherson city, he added.
Some context: Signs are growing that Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian defenses along part of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia region and are expanding a wedge toward the strategic town of Tokmak, while stepping up attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea, as part of a slow moving counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Friday there had been further success in two areas – towards the village of Novoprokopivka and further east in the direction of another small settlement, Ocheretuvate.
On Thursday, the spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, Nataliya Humenyuk, said Russian forces were bringing more forces to the Zaporizhzhia area from Kherson to the south, due to the heavy casualties among units already there.
Yurii Malashko, head of Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said there were almost no buildings left standing in Robotyne, which the Ukrainians said they had secured earlier this week, after weeks of fighting in the area.
19 min ago
Belarusian president says he warned Wagner boss Prigozhin twice to watch out
From CNN's Alex Stambaugh, Katharina Krebs and Heather Chen
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin twice to watch out for threats to his life.
“The first time was when I phoned him and negotiations (were taking) place while they were marching on Moscow,” Lukashenko told reporters in comments carried by Belarusian state news agency Belta on Friday.
“I told him: ‘Yevgeny, do you understand that you will doom your people and will perish yourself?’ He had just come back from the front. On an impulse he said: ‘I will die then, damn it!”
Warned "in no uncertain terms": Lukashenko said the second time he warned him was when Prigozhin and Dmitriy Utkin, a long-term lieutenant of Prigozhin’s, had come to see him and he “warned them in no uncertain terms to watch it.” Lukashenko did not say when the meeting took place.
The Belarusian president said he suggested to Prigozhin that he could talk with Putin and “guarantee full security” in Belarus if he was concerned for his security, Belta reported.
“I said: ‘If you are afraid of something, I will talk to President (Vladimir) Putin and we will extract you to Belarus. We guarantee full security to you in Belarus.’ And credit where credit is due, Yevgeny Prigozhin has never asked me to separately pay attention to security matters,” Lukashenko said.
Here's what we know about the incident that likely brought down plane purportedly carrying Wagner boss
From CNN's Eliza Mackintosh, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Benjamin Brown and Katie Polglase
There is a puff of white and then a plane can be seen falling, a trail of smoke or vapor stretching behind it, descending rapidly against a bright blue sky. The person filming the video zooms in as the aircraft spirals downward out of control, revealing that it is missing a wing.
The footage, published by Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, appears to show the moments before a private plane purportedly carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed in a field northwest of Moscow, while en route to St. Petersburg.
The evidence: CNN has reviewed flight data and videos, and interviewed aviation and explosive experts, to piece together what happened in the minutes leading up to the crash. The analysis suggests that the private aircraft experienced at least one “catastrophic inflight incident” before it dropped out of the sky. The available video does not show that catastrophic event.
A passenger manifest released by Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, on Wednesday showed that Prigozhin’s name and that of Wagner’s top commander, Dmitry Utkin, were among the seven passengers and three crew members, all of whom Russia’s emergency services ministry said were killed.
Russian authorities have yet to officially confirm Prigozhin’s death but, acknowledging the crash in public comments on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to him in the past tense.
Rosaviatsia said it had launched an investigation into “the circumstances and causes of the accident.” The Investigative Committee has also launched a criminal probe.
The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin launched a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, posing an unprecedented challenge to Putin’s authority.
The US view: The Pentagon said on Thursday that Prigozhin was “likely” killed in the crash. US and Western intelligence officials that CNN has spoken to believe it was deliberate. Officials said that it was too early to determine what brought the plane down, but that one possibility being explored was an on-board explosion.
There’s been plenty of speculation. But no evidence has been presented pointing to the involvement of the Kremlin or Russian security services in the crash.
Experts interviewed by CNN say that available evidence indicates that the crash was unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical failure. The dramatic descent of the plane, the way that it broke apart in the air and the extent of the debris field point to an explosion, they said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin twice to watch out for threats to his life. Prigozhin, who led a failed uprising against the Kremlin, is presumed dead after his plane crashed.
The crash has raised questions over whether the mercenary Wagner group can survive without Prigozhin. It is not clear what caused his plane to crash but CNN analysis suggests an onboard explosion was likely responsible.
Russian attacks killed one person and wounded another in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian authorities say. Kyiv's forces reported progress in the area as part of its slow-moving counteroffensive.
At least one person was killed and another wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region in the past day, according to Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia military administration.
"Over the past day, the enemy fired 85 times at 26 settlements in Zaporizhzhia region," Malashko said in a post on Telegram Friday.
"Unfortunately, a 58-year-old resident of Mala Tokmachka was killed," he said, and added that a 59-year-old man was also injured during shelling on the village.
Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, one person was injured in the Kherson region after Russian attacks over the past day, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region military administration.
Prokudin said Russian attacks hit residential areas of the region's settlements, a critical infrastructure facility, a building of an educational institution and territories of two farms. The attacks also hit a business and gym in Kherson city, he added.
Some context: Signs are growing that Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian defenses along part of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia region and are expanding a wedge toward the strategic town of Tokmak, while stepping up attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea, as part of a slow moving counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Friday there had been further success in two areas – towards the village of Novoprokopivka and further east in the direction of another small settlement, Ocheretuvate.
On Thursday, the spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, Nataliya Humenyuk, said Russian forces were bringing more forces to the Zaporizhzhia area from Kherson to the south, due to the heavy casualties among units already there.
Yurii Malashko, head of Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said there were almost no buildings left standing in Robotyne, which the Ukrainians said they had secured earlier this week, after weeks of fighting in the area.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin twice to watch out for threats to his life.
“The first time was when I phoned him and negotiations (were taking) place while they were marching on Moscow,” Lukashenko told reporters in comments carried by Belarusian state news agency Belta on Friday.
“I told him: ‘Yevgeny, do you understand that you will doom your people and will perish yourself?’ He had just come back from the front. On an impulse he said: ‘I will die then, damn it!”
Warned "in no uncertain terms": Lukashenko said the second time he warned him was when Prigozhin and Dmitriy Utkin, a long-term lieutenant of Prigozhin’s, had come to see him and he “warned them in no uncertain terms to watch it.” Lukashenko did not say when the meeting took place.
The Belarusian president said he suggested to Prigozhin that he could talk with Putin and “guarantee full security” in Belarus if he was concerned for his security, Belta reported.
“I said: ‘If you are afraid of something, I will talk to President (Vladimir) Putin and we will extract you to Belarus. We guarantee full security to you in Belarus.’ And credit where credit is due, Yevgeny Prigozhin has never asked me to separately pay attention to security matters,” Lukashenko said.
There is a puff of white and then a plane can be seen falling, a trail of smoke or vapor stretching behind it, descending rapidly against a bright blue sky. The person filming the video zooms in as the aircraft spirals downward out of control, revealing that it is missing a wing.
The footage, published by Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, appears to show the moments before a private plane purportedly carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed in a field northwest of Moscow, while en route to St. Petersburg.
The evidence: CNN has reviewed flight data and videos, and interviewed aviation and explosive experts, to piece together what happened in the minutes leading up to the crash. The analysis suggests that the private aircraft experienced at least one “catastrophic inflight incident” before it dropped out of the sky. The available video does not show that catastrophic event.
A passenger manifest released by Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, on Wednesday showed that Prigozhin’s name and that of Wagner’s top commander, Dmitry Utkin, were among the seven passengers and three crew members, all of whom Russia’s emergency services ministry said were killed.
Russian authorities have yet to officially confirm Prigozhin’s death but, acknowledging the crash in public comments on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to him in the past tense.
Rosaviatsia said it had launched an investigation into “the circumstances and causes of the accident.” The Investigative Committee has also launched a criminal probe.
The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin launched a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, posing an unprecedented challenge to Putin’s authority.
The US view: The Pentagon said on Thursday that Prigozhin was “likely” killed in the crash. US and Western intelligence officials that CNN has spoken to believe it was deliberate. Officials said that it was too early to determine what brought the plane down, but that one possibility being explored was an on-board explosion.
There’s been plenty of speculation. But no evidence has been presented pointing to the involvement of the Kremlin or Russian security services in the crash.
Experts interviewed by CNN say that available evidence indicates that the crash was unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical failure. The dramatic descent of the plane, the way that it broke apart in the air and the extent of the debris field point to an explosion, they said.
