Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted Thursday to the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, denying Kyiv had any involvement and pointing the finger at Russian authorities.
“We have nothing to do with it. Everyone understands who is involved,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv, reported Interfax-Ukraine.
The warlord-turned-mutineer died Wednesday evening, after his private jet crashed in flames on an internal flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Russia’s aviation regulator named Prigozhin as one of 10 people killed in the crash, along with Dmitry Utkin, a central Wagner figure and the group’s alleged founder.
Prigozhin’s death comes exactly two months after he led an aborted uprising against the Kremlin in June, which prompted speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated the crash.
The crash sparked apoplexy from Prigozhin’s allies — who expressed their grief with candlelit vigils and distraught messages; and jubilation from Ukrainians — who cheered the warlord’s death with dark humor, after he led a monthslong assault during Russia’s assault in Ukraine’s east over the winter and spring.
Zelenskyy, too, cracked a joke with reporters Thursday.
“When Ukraine spoke and addressed the countries of the world about planes, we did not mean this. We meant something completely different and we wanted support, although, this will probably also help in a sense,” he said.
