A video is circulating widely, claiming to depict the alleged crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane, chief of Wagner Military Private Group. The claim is going viral after Yevgeny Prigozhin was suspected to have died in a plane crash on August 23.
Multiple social media users were found to share the video with the claim of Prigozhin’s plane crash.
Fact Check
Upon investigation, we discovered that the video depicts the Ilyushin Il-22M, a Russian plane, being shot down by the air defense forces of the Wagner private military company on June 24, 2023.
Numerous news outlets like News18, The Telegraph UK, The Eur Asian News, and Defense Express reported on this incident. Accordingly, the reports have mentioned that it was not Ukraine but Wagner PMC, which resulted in one of the most significant losses for the Russian Air Force (RuAF), that killed 10 military crew and loss of a critical military aircraft.
Conclusion
Based on the DFRAC’s fact check, it is clear that the video is peddling with a misleading claim. The authentic footage captures the shooting down of the IL-22M aircraft of the Russian Air Force on June 24, 2023. Air Defense Forces of the Wagner private military company shot down the aircraft.
