Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a private jet that crashed Wednesday, killing everyone aboard on its way from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Russian aviation authorities said.
(Bloomberg) — Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a private jet that crashed Wednesday, killing everyone aboard on its way from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Russian aviation authorities said.
The crash occurred exactly two months after Prigozhin, whose forces fought for Russia in Ukraine, led a mutiny that posed the greatest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” President Joe Biden told reporters.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pushed back against criticism that its forces are too spread out over the front line, saying concentrating them for a single, powerful assault would leave cities vulnerable to Russian attack. Ukrainian troops are pushing farther into Russia’s defenses in the Zaporizhzhia region, with fighting raging south of the recently recaptured town of Robotyne, the General Staff said.
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Several crop terminals at the Izmail port on the Danube were damaged overnight, curbing its export capacity by 15%, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov. Wheat futures in Chicago gained for a second day. Still, large crops in other major shippers — including Russia itself — have kept the market under pressure this year, with prices down about 20% since the end of December.
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