Wagner chief challenges Ukraine’s Zelensky to aerial duel over Bakhmut
- Mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin shared a video taken in an aircraft cockpit, claiming he was in a fighter jet that had just bombed the key city
- In the clip, he says he will be in a MiG-29 plane the next day, and asks the Ukrainian leader to ‘meet in the skies’ over Bakhmut
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The head of Russia’s mercenary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin on Monday said he was on a fighter plane that had bombed Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
In a video on social media, Prigozhin appeared inside a plane flying in darkness, wearing a helmet and a pilot mask.
“We are landing, we bombed Bakhmut,” the businessman and Kremlin ally said.
He also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to join a fight in the skies over Bakhmut, saying he will board a MiG-29 fighter aircraft the next day.
“If you have the will, we will meet in the skies. If you win, you will take Artemovsk [the Russian name for Bakhmut], if not, we will go until the Dnipro [River],” Prigozhin said.
The same day, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a resolution denouncing Wagner, whose mercenaries are fighting alongside Russian troops, as a terrorist organisation.
Ex-Wagner fighter says he saw comrades shot for fleeing Ukraine front line
“We are preparing to destroy Wagner as a component of international terrorism,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, said.
He said the recognition was a “step towards bringing [Wagner] to justice.”
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Wagner mercenaries are taking part in Moscow’s offensive on Bakhmut, which Russia has been trying to capture for months, with heavy losses on both sides.
Ukraine’s defence in the area has been weakened by recent Russian territorial gains, in particular the town of Soledar further north.
Zelensky on Saturday vowed to fight for Bakhmut “as long as we can”.
Prigozhin has said “fierce battles are going on for every street”.
