Russian villagers who witnessed the crash of Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s jet say they heard an “explosion” before seeing the plane plummet out of the sky.
Prigozhin’s plane crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino, and residents there say they saw the plane fall from the clouds in at least two pieces. Officials say Prigozhin was aboard along with six other passengers and three crew members.
“I hear an explosion or a bang. Usually, if an explosion happens on the ground then you get an echo, but it was just a bang and I looked up and saw white smoke,” resident Vitaly Stepenok, 72, told Reuters. “One wing flew off in one direction and the fuselage went like that,” he said gesturing toward the ground.
“I was over there. I jumped on my bike and was there in about 20 minutes. Everything was on fire. People were walking around. They dragged someone out, their remains… I couldn’t make it out. I just saw the number on the plane, which I told them, and that was it,” Stepenok continued.
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People carry a body bag away from the wreckage of a crashed private jet, near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died when a private jet he was said to be on crashed on Aug. 23, 2023, killing all 10 people on board. (AP Photo)
Another villager emphasized that he had heard a bang or explosion before the plane fell to the ground.
“In terms of what might have happened, I’ll just say this: it wasn’t thunder, it was a metallic bang – let’s put it that way. I’ve heard things like that before,” the resident told the outlet, identifying himself only as Anatoly.
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A view of site after a private jet, allegedly carrying Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin and other passengers crashed in Russia’s northwestern Tver region, Russia on August 23, 2023.
Prigozhin’s death comes just months after the mercenary chief led a stop-and-go insurrection against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. That conflict was supposedly resolved via deal making between Wagner and Putin, though many observers did not expect Prigozhin to survive the exchange.
Russian villagers who witnessed the crash of Wagener Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet say they heard an “explosion” before seeing the plane plummet out of the sky. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
CIA Director William Burns warned in late July that Putin was likely biding his time for revenge.
“I think … what we’re seeing is a very complicated dance between Prigozhin and Putin,” Burns said at the time. “I think Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold.”
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“I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution for this,” Burns stressed. “In that sense … if I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose rule recently was challenged by Prigozhin, appears Wednesday at a concert in Russia after news emerged of the crash allegedly involving the Wagner Group founder. (Fox News)
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Opposition to Putin has remained scarce due to a number of high-profile accidents that have led to the disappearance or deaths of several men who had formerly counted themselves close allies of Putin. Nearly a dozen men died after they had criticized the invasion, whether by heart failure or falling from speeding boats and tall buildings.
Fox News’ Peter Aitken and Reuters contributed to this report.
