Ukraine has nothing to do with the crash of the plane carrying Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin along with six other members of his mercenary group, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday, The Guardian quotes.

• “I had nothing to do with it. Everyone understands who is involved in this,” Ukrainian news agency Interfax quoted Zelenskyi as saying.

Prigozhin died on Wednesday evening after the plane in which he was traveling with six other passengers crashed in the Tver region. The Russian authorities announced that all the dead bodies of the people who were on board had been found.

• Who was on board the plane that crashed with Yevhen Prigozhin / The full list of passengers and crew members was published by Moscow

What is currently known about the plane crash in which Prigozhin was aboard

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, confirmed on Wednesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board the Moscow-St. Petersburg plane that crashed in the Tver region, killing all on board.

The private Embraer plane was carrying seven passengers and three crew members, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported. According to state media, all ten dead bodies were removed from the accident site.

The Embraer Legacy plane crashed near the village of Kuenkino in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, an investigation has been opened into the fact of “violation of air transport safety rules”. “An investigative-operational team has been sent to the place (…) to establish the causes of the accident,” the message of the Investigative Committee of Russia states.

While the search continued, President Vladimir Putin gave a speech in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Second World War near Kursk, visiting the region in southwestern Russia, on the border with Ukraine. He did not mention anything about the plane crash with Prigozhin on board. He spoke to the crowd about the “devotion and loyalty” of Russian soldiers who are “bravely and resolutely fighting” in Ukraine.

• Death, impeachment and arrest: events that strengthened Vladimir Putin’s power in a month

In June, Yevgeny Prigozhin led a rebellion against the Russian General Staff and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, leading his men to briefly seize military posts in southern Russia before marching on Moscow.

Vladimir Putin called him a “traitor” without naming him. Prigozhin abandoned the rebellion after Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko reached a deal with the Kremlin in which Minsk offered him asylum.

Read also:

• “Such a plane does not fall catastrophically from the sky”: what an aeronaut says about the crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane

• Death, impeachment and arrest: events that strengthened Vladimir Putin’s power in a month

• “I think Wagner’s group has a lot to worry about, too.” Yevgeny Prigozhin died. What we know so far, what could be next