Vladimir Putin killed Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin because he was “weak,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Friday — while predicting the Russian leader would try to terrorize the West with nuclear weapons.
Zelensky touched on the rebel warlord’s death in passing while answering questions about Putin at a conference in Kyiv Friday.
“The fact that he [Putin] killed Prigozhin – at least that’s the information we all have, not the other kind – which also speaks about his rationale, and about the fact that he is weak,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president has offered no evidence to support claims that his Russian counterpart was behind last month’s mysterious plane crash outside Moscow that killed 10 people, including Prigozhin and the second-in-command.
The Kremlin has dismissed suggestions that Putin ordered the death of the Wagner Group boss and his cohorts as an “absolute lie.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has openly claimed that Vladimir Putin killed Yevgeny Prigozhin without offering any evidence.PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER/AFP via Getty Images
According to Zelensky, Putin orchestrated the fiery death of the rebel warlord because the Russian leader was “weak.” AP
Prigozhin’s private jet with 10 people on board crashed in the Tver region in August. AFP via Getty Images
Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched an investigation into the flight disaster, with “deliberate misconduct” not ruled out as a possible cause.
Prigozhin’s death came two months after he led a brief rebellion against the Russian army, prompting Putin to label him a “traitor”.
During a press conference Friday at the opening of the Yalta European Strategy annual meeting, Zelensky said that Putin “has been deflated as a person and as a politician.”
Zelensky predicted that Putin will try to intimidate the West with nuclear weapons this winter. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian leaders, however, warned that this coming winter, the Russian president will try to “instill fear” in the West with Russia’s nuclear weapons, while continuing to inflict suffering on the Ukrainian people as he did last year.
Putin will “put pressure on the West, and, above all, on the United States, because they will also be at a fragile time, because this is election time,” Zelensky predicted, referring to the 2024 presidential election that will compete with President Biden faces an undecided Republican challenger.
“There will be threats, but there is a distance between threats and action,” he added. “I think it’s important not to panic.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
