Wreckage of Wagner warlord's plane has been spotted from space

The plane crash which is suspected of killing Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been spotted in a satellite image.

The crash killed 10 people on Wednesday (August 23). It is widely claimed to be an assassination to avenge Prigozhin’s mutiny in June that challenged Russia’s military leadership.

The image, captured by a satellite operated by the US company Planet, shows the crash site in the midst of a rural area outside of Moscow.

The wreckage of the plane can be seen towards the middle of the photograph, by the tree line. There are also a number of vehicles close to the wreckage, which are thought to be part of a recovery team.

It comes after Vladimir Putin broke his silence about the matter after hours of silence following the event. He appeared to eulogise Prigozhin as “a talented businessman” who made “serious mistakes”, and sent his condolences to the families of those killed.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov recently criticised Joe Biden’s remarks about the incident.

The US president said on Wednesday that he was not surprised by the reports of Prigozhin’s death, adding that not much happens in Russia that Putin is not behind.

Prigozhin mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June over the treatment of his private military company which fought alongside Russia's army in Ukraine.

Initially, Putin denounced the rebellion as treason, but charges were dropped.

Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool/AFP via Getty

Footage resurfaced online of Putin's opinion on 'betrayal' following reports that Prigozhin was on board the plane that crashed in Russia on Wednesday.

The brief snippet has since made its rounds on X/Twitter and is taken from a 2018 documentary based on the Russian president.

It comes after UK politician Tobias Ellwood said Putin’s “back is against the wall” and his days are “very much numbered” following the suspected death of Prigozhin.

Ellwood, who chairs the Commons defence select committee, told Sky News that the lengths to which Mr Putin appears to have gone to eliminate dissenting voices shows that “trust in the Kremlin inner circle has disappeared”.

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