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assessment. however, the pentagon press secretary, brigadier general patrick ryder, declined to give any details about how the department made that determination. while the us intelligence community is still assessing what caused wednesday's plane crash, the pentagon said there aren't any indication that a surface—to—air missile took down the plane. british defense sources have told the bbc they believe russia's fsb spy agency is most likely to have been responsible. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has denied any involvement. he told journalists — quote — "everyone is aware who is involved." crash investigators have been combing through the wreckage — beyond the passenger list there's still no official confirmation of who was on board. the apparent death of mr prizoghin will have global implications. as well as fighting in ukraine, his mercenary group has been active in parts of africa. earlier, the bbc spoke exclusively to ukraine's deputy minister of defence volodymyr havrylov on what his death means in the war. this business criminal number one to us. we saw his bad thing
you're live with bbc news. the us defense department says that wagner group chief yevgeny prigozhin was "likely killed" in the plane crash near moscow that killed ten people, according to an initial assessment. however, the pentagon press secretary, brigadier general patrick ryder, declined to give any details about how the department made that determination. while the us intelligence community is still assessing what caused wednesday's plane crash, the pentagon said there aren't any indication that a surface—to—air missile took down the plane. british defense sources have told the bbc they believe russia's fsb spy agency is most likely to have been responsible. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has denied any involvement. he told journalists, "everyone is aware "who is involved." crash investigators have been combing through the wreckage. beyond the passenger list there's still no official confirmation of who was on board. the apparent death of mr prizoghin will have global implications. as well as fighting in ukraine,
who reportedly knew that mercenaries were planning to launch an armed rebellion is apparently missing. cnn asked the kremlin about his whereabouts. they told us no comment. yesterday "the new york times" reported that the general knew about the plot and u.s. intelligence was trying to figure out if he actually helped to plan it. >> the moscow times is reporting that he is under arrest. they are citing russian defense sources, but we have not been able to independently verify that. there have been reports from russian military bloggers and other journalists that the general hasn't been seen in days and he might be under interrogation and that he hasn't been in contact with his family. nick paton walsh joins us live from kyiv. this general was once for a brief period of time, once the top commander of the war in ukraine? >> reporter: absolutely, and considered pretty competent and effective when he had that role. sergey surovikin was demoted and put in charge of the air force with a deputy role in the ukraine war after people
>> what's so interesting to me is it's hard to believe but there's independent polling out of moscow and what they've seen is support for this war, 75%, support for president putin equally as high. so when you look at the russian community, they are really behind putin on this war and part of it is psychology of it all. they believe these areas are theirs and they should take it back and reclaim it. zelenskyy in his speech said -- really powerful. he is really magnetic and able to really rally public sentiment. he said these missiles are not going to stop our will. and what happened on february 24th was a rebirth off of our nation. 9,000 people have been killed in ukraine according to ukrainian defense sources. the fact that they are still able, despite the casualties, despite the loss, despite the situation to their military, they're still able to keep fighting and that says everything about a country that's still struggling to maintain their independence. >> the missiles are still
after gression by russia toward ukraine. he added the u.s. and nate ore are watching the build up of 100,000 russia troop as long the ukraine border. >> that would give the russia the capacity if president putin so chooses to attack ukraine from the south, from the east, from the north. we're looking at what is visible to all. and it is deeds and actions, not words that make the difference. i suggested to mr. lavrov, as we have repeatedly, if russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward ukraine a good place would to be would be by escalating and removing forces from ukraine's borders. >> and this just into cnn. defense sources tell cnn the pentagon is developing options for the president to bolster the u.s. military presence in
union, we all take it very seriously. no one totally understands what mr. putin's intentions are here. but we don't want to underestimate what he may do. the one thing that the ukranians did remind us and sometimes we forget, they have been at war with russia since 2014. the russians still occupy territory in crimea and they have been fighting a war off and on with the russians. and talking to everyday ukranian citizens, they seem resolute, but they have no intention of going back to the days under the soviet union. they have tasted freedom and they want to continue moving towards a more democratic society and they are ready to fight for that. >> so that is what you were hearing from ukranian citizens. what are the officials telling you, how are they preparing? >> they are getting ready and reinforcing what potentially could be strike lines, but also developing civilian defense
there's bravery everywhere in ukraine, but nothing like the military resources, the defense sources, the intelligence sources that would be necessary to stave off an assault like this. >> david, looking forward, we had the ambassador -- we had ambassador mcfaul on earlier saying don't measure this conflict in days and weeks, you have to measure it in months and years. in the coming months, give me your prognosis. the fact that we are in 2022 and not 1975 where people would have to run underground and have a printing press and try to disseminate information anyway they could, information flies across the world in a second. it is lightning in a bottle. is vladimir putin a man out of time? is time just not on his side
>> if i said that, i would say there is an ongoing debate, and all military circles -- they know what the objective is. leading defense sources earlier today are still convinced that kyiv is a target on behalf of putin. much set it himself when he delivered his message from moscow several hours ago. if there was a misstatement, i will take it back. >>
targets. but here in kyiv, the combat continues as diplomacy also gets under way. there are some glimmers of hope in terms of talks with russians, at least some optimism coming from the ukrainian side, anderson. >> i want to ask you about that in a second. can you just talk a little bit about this 35-hour curfew? early on in the war, there was a very long curfew, i think it was a 24-hour one, if i'm not mistaken, perhaps longer, in kyiv. this is the first time this has happened again, since that time. is that because -- we talked to a member of parliament who says she's very worried about what may happen in the next day or two. are they expecting something, and that's why they have this curfew? >> reporter: it's been very difficult to get clarity, as you might imagine, from defense sources here.
engagement ceremony. defense sources alleged he repeatedly failed to turn up to work. i was very sad. i wrote all my story, what happened to me in helmand, because i did a good service. so, i thought that maybe i would receive a positive response. afghan forces pushed back a taliban advance towards herat city. the insurgents have not taken any provincial capital yet, but some fear it is only a matter of time. the taliban say former interpreters who worked with foreign forces but now show remorse will not be harmed. few are reassured by that, though. dozens are reported to have been killed by the group in recent years. military veterans and campaigners say the evacuation policies need to be more generous. the absolute priority for afghan relocation and assistance policy is looking at, are these people under threat because of their association with us? and the only