2023-08-24 01:01:17
(CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wednesday, was in the Kursk region leading a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, in which the Soviet army defeated the Nazis in 1943 during World War II, while news came of the crash of a plane carrying the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny. Prigogine.
Putin delivered a speech at the official ceremony, presented awards to the participants in what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, and said that “the whole burden of fighting today, as in the years of the Great Patriotic War, falls primarily on our soldiers, on those who are on the front lines.”
He added, “All of our fighters are fighting bravely and decisively. Devotion to the homeland and loyalty to the military oath unites all participants in the special military operation.”
Putin’s speech and ceremony were broadcast on state television on Wednesday evening, and in the same newscast on the state channel Russia 24, there was a report that a plane had crashed in the Tver region, and that Prigozhin’s name was among the passengers’ names.
Putin’s remarks were broadcast around 9 p.m. local time, while state media reported that the incident occurred around 6 p.m. local time.
Russian emergency services said that the Embraer plane crashed near the village of Kozkino in the Tver region, while en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. There were 10 people on board, including 3 crew members, and they were all killed.
During the memorial ceremony for the Battle of Kursk, which Putin described as “opulent”, among the awards presented by the Russian president was a state award for a tank crew that allegedly destroyed a Ukrainian armored convoy on the Zaporozhye axis.
While in Kursk, Putin also met residents, according to a video clip broadcast by Russia 24 channel, as well as residents shook hands with the Russian president, and some even hugged him.
Earlier Wednesday, Putin delivered a speech via video link at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, claiming that Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in order to end the war “unleashed by the West.”
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