Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday held his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin responsible for the death of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, which occurred in a plane crash in August in an area north of Moscow.
“He killed Prigozhin, at least this is the information we all have, we have no other information,” Zelensky said at a conference in Kiev, quoted by France Presse (AFP).
The men of the Wagner group were on the front lines of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, including the battle for the city of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian forces in May after almost a year of bloody fighting.
Following the fall of Bakhmut and growing tension with the Defense Minister and the leadership of the Russian military, Prigozhin led an uprising in late June, during which operatives of the Wagner Group led a march toward Moscow with the aim of removing the Russian military leadership .
The uprising was stopped through the mediation of Alexander Lukashenko, Putin’s ally and president of Belarus, where part of the Wagner group moved before the deaths of Prigozhin and men at the top of the paramilitary company in an air crash on August 23 .
Representatives of the Wagner Group were on board a private jet flying between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Putin denied he was behind Prigozhin’s death, describing him as a talented man who did a lot for Russia but made mistakes.
At the conference in Kiev, the Ukrainian president said Putin is betting on the next presidential election in 2024 in the United States, hoping that a Republican victory, especially by former North American President Donald Trump, will boost Washington’s support for Kiev weaken.
“[Os russos] count on the US elections (…), even though we have mutual and bipartisan support,” said Volodymyr Zelenskiy, admitting, however, the existence of “voices within the Republican Party that say that support for Ukraine should be reduced” .
However, Zelensky stated that he believes that the future president of the United States should respect the will of his citizens and maintain aid to Kiev.
In the same speech, also marked by implicit criticism of the Allies, pointing out the slow delivery of military equipment and the application of sanctions, and by references to the fact that progress in the counter-offensive of Kiev’s armed forces was hampered by the air dominance of Moscow, Zelensky said. There are also presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which were supposed to take place in 2024, but without a timetable due to the conflict in the country.
“US representatives raised the issue” of elections in Ukraine, the head of state added, a day after a trip to this country by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, noting that he is ready for the vote “ when the people need it.”
“It is not a question of democracy” but “just security,” said Zelensky, who remains Ukraine’s most popular politician, as he stressed that many problems needed to be resolved.
Among the difficulties, he mentioned organizing the vote for tens, even hundreds of thousands of soldiers “in the trenches”, and sending international observers to the war zone, where violent fighting and bombings continue.
He also said the country does not have the “infrastructure” to organize votes for millions of Ukrainian refugees abroad and could potentially set up an online vote, but that does not yet exist in Ukraine.
“I have a question for our partners: do you recognize such a mood?” Zelensky said.
The head of state also questioned the fate of Ukrainians living in the Russian-occupied territories, which in total represent almost 20% of the territory in the east and south of the country.
“How will they express their will?” he concluded.
Source: DN
