Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Regional official Sergei Aksyonov said air defense forces had shot down a cruise missile in the eastern part of Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

In the Bryansk region of Russia that borders northern Ukraine, two unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down, the region’s Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information.

— Holly Ellyatt

Hopes are rising that Turkey will persuade Russia to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Ukraine, enabling the resumption of exports of millions of tons of grains, foodstuffs and fertilizer from some of Ukraine’s ports.

Russia pulled out of the U.N.-brokered deal in July, saying its own exports of grain and fertilizer had been impeded by sanctions and restrictions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will discuss the possibility of launching a new Black Sea grain deal when they meet Thursday and Friday in Moscow.

Under a plan proposed by Moscow, Russia would send a million metric tons of discounted grain to Turkey, where it would then be processed and sent to countries most in need, the Foreign Ministry said, according to Reuters.

“We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal,” it said, referring to the U.N.-backed deal that Russia exited in July.

— Karen Gilchrist, Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it will respond to a series of drone attacks on six Russian regions overnight. Russia alleged that Ukraine was behind the attacks targeting northwest and central Russia, including the Moscow region.

Briefing journalists on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the drone attacks on territory that was so far from Ukraine would not have been possible without information from Western satellites.

“The actions of the Ukrainian regime will not go unpunished,” Zakharova said, according to comments published by state news agency Tass.

“Russian law enforcement agencies are investigating and carefully documenting all facts of shelling of Russian regions by Ukrainian militants, as well as their other criminal activities,” she said.

Russia has not presented evidence that Ukraine was behind the attempted drone attacks and Kyiv has not commented.

— Holly Ellyatt

Followers of mutinous Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin laid flowers, messages and poetry at his grave on Wednesday, hailing him as a fearless warrior after he was killed along with his inner circle in a yet-to-be-explained plane crash.

Prigozhin was buried at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his home town of St Petersburg on Tuesday away from the glare of the media whom he had courted so ardently in life after leading his fighters on a dash towards Moscow before turning back.

A man wearing the shirt of his Wagner mercenaries and a cap bearing the Russian flag was among those paying respects at the grave, where red roses and carnations graced a wooden Orthodox cross lablled “Prigozhin, Yevgeny Viktorovich 1961 – 2023.” One tribute beside flowers read: “To be a warrior is to live forever.”

The private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow with the loss of all 10 people on board on Aug. 23, including Prigozhin, top Wagner commanders, his bodyguards and a crew of three.

It is still unclear what caused the plane to crash but villagers near the scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.

The Kremlin has rejected as an “absolute lie” the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators – for which they have not provided evidence – that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

— Reuters

The Kremlin said Wednesday it did not rule out that the death of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was premeditated.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, said Russia’s Investigative Committee would look into the causes of the plane crash last week that killed Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary private military company the Wagner Group, but ruled out outside involvement in the inquiry.

“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version – you know what we are talking about – let’s say, a deliberate atrocity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to comments translated by Reuters.

“Let’s wait for the results of our Russian investigation,” he added.

Peskov’s comment is the first time Moscow has acknowledged that Prigozhin’s death may not have been an accident. Prigozhin was a close ally of President Putin before he led a short-lived mutiny in June against the state that put him on a collision path with the president.

Last week, the private, Brazilian-made Embraer jet in which Prigozhin and his closest associates were traveling in, crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people on board.

Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority told Reuters that it will not probe the crash of the jet under international rules “at the moment.” Asked about this, Peskov said Russia’s Investigative Committee had already begun its inquiry and that “in this case there can be no talk of any international aspect.”

The Kremlin has rejected what it sees as Western “speculation” that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge for the uprising, describing it as an “absolute lie.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian officials accused Ukraine of launching several drone attacks against six regions in central and northwestern Russia overnight Wednesday.

One alleged attack had caused a fire at an airfield in Pskov in the northwest of the country, setting two Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft on fire and damaging several other aircraft, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, said on his Telegram channel that the scale of the destruction is being assessed and flights from Pskov’s airport were canceled Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry also reported attempted drone attacks in the Bryansk, Kaluga and Oryol regions southwest of Moscow as well as the Ryazan area to the southeast. It said a drone had also been intercepted near the capital, prompting the authorities to close airports in the city.

“Today, at about 03:30 Moscow time, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV against objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement reported by Russian news agency Tass.

“The unmanned aerial vehicle was intercepted and crashed over the territory of the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region,” the ministry added.

Moscow’s Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports temporarily stopped all flights but have since reopened.

Ukraine has not said it was involved in the drone attacks and has typically remained tight-lipped about attacks against the Russian territory itself. Ukrainian officials said Russia had launched a massive, combined strike on the capital Kyiv overnight using attack drones and missiles.

— Holly Ellyatt