Kremlin orders Wagner fighters to sign oath of allegiance; three Ukrainian pilots die in mid-air collision
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Vladimir Putin has ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after the plane crash that the Kremlin said killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary group.
Joe Biden said US officials were trying to determine how Prigozhin’s plane was brought down, leaving no survivors. Russia criticised Biden for expressing his lack of surprise that Prigozhin had been killed and said it was not appropriate for Washington to make such remarks.
Russia reported a drone attack on Moscow in the early hours of Saturday forcing authorities to again shut down all three major airports serving the capital.
Ukraine said on Saturday that three of its air force pilots including a renowned pilot with the callsign Juice were killed in a mid-air collision on Friday.
Pope Francis urged young Russians to be “sowers of seeds of reconciliation” in a virtual address to a congregation of 400 in St Petersburg that gathered for the annual Catholic youth day.
Russian forces struck a cafe in a key frontline area in north-eastern Ukraine, killing two civilians and wounding a third, regional officials said. The shelling near the city of Kupiansk took place amid warnings from UK officials that Russia may try to retake the area.
US reporter Evan Gershkovich appealed against a Russian court’s decision to extend his pre-trial detention by three months after his detention under spying charges which he denies, according to documents published by a Moscow court. Unlike many western reporters, he had continued to report from Russia during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
German magazine Der Spiegel published a lengthy and detailed investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. It cites German investigators – who are undertaking “the most important investigation of Germany’s postwar history because of its potential political implications” – and reported that “a striking number of clues point to Ukraine”.
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