The leader of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, which openly rebelled against Vladimir Putin two months ago, was killed in a plane crash Wednesday, Russian officials said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, was one of 10 people on board the plane from Moscow to St. Petersburg, according to a passenger list shared by Russian officials. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency also confirmed he was on board.

The plane was 300 miles from its destination when it went down near the city of Tvar, about 100 miles northwest of Moscow. The other nine victims were not immediately identified.

According to posts in a Telegram channel popular with the Wagner Group, the jet was shot down by Russian military air defenses, the BBC reported. Witnesses near Tvar said they heard two bangs before the crash and saw two vapor trails in the air.

Russia’s state-run Tass news agency said only that the plane had crashed shortly after takeoff and four bodies had already been recovered. Three pilots and seven passengers were on board the private Embraer jet, which was reportedly owned by Prigozhin.

A view of site after a private jet, allegedly carrying Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin and other passengers crashed in Russia’s northwestern Tver region, Russia on August 23, 2023.

In late June, Prigozhin led his Wagner Group mercenaries in an open rebellion against Putin and Russian leadership. The revolt began on June 23, and the Wagner Group seized the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the Russian military’s hub for its invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin threatened to march on Moscow; Putin called his actions treasonous.

“Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken,” Prigozhin responded. “We are patriots of our homeland.”

“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said in a video address to the Russian people. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”

This image taken from video released by Ostorozhno Novosti on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, shows plane wreckage falling near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver Region.

Putin and Russian military leaders had pushed to bring all private forces under government control by July 1. Prigozhin was furious that he would lose control of Wagner, the group he founded, and launched the rebellion in response.

While the Wagner Group is state-funded, Prigozhin had authority over its day-to-day operations. After the Russian military was humiliated early in its invasion of Ukraine, the Wagner Group was called in, and the mercenaries became among the most feared soldiers in the conflict.

Prigozhin had criticized Russian military leaders throughout the war, saying they failed to sufficiently arm his troops and made strategic blunders. But almost as soon as his revolt began, it fizzled.

After threatening to march on Moscow, Prigozhin cut a deal with Putin. The agreement would see Prigozhin and his rebellious troops move to Belarus, which has aided Russia in the war. In exchange, the rebels would face neither criminal prosecution nor penalties in Russia.

Prigozhin and Putin had been longtime friends and allies before the failed rebellion. Prigozhin was spotted in the neighboring nation shortly afterward. In the ensuing two months, Prigozhin’s whereabouts were tracked closely, and he appeared to be making routine trips to Moscow.

In this image taken from video released by Ostorozhno Novosti on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, shows the crash site of a private jet near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver Region.

Hours before Prigozhin’s plane went down, one of his allies in the Russian military was ousted. Gen. Sergei Surovikin was the leader of Russia’s air force but had not been seen in public since the attempted rebellion.

On Wednesday morning, Surovikin was dismissed from his powerful position. During the revolt, he had reportedly urged Prigozhin to fall back, but that was evidently not enough given his longtime ties to the mercenary leader.

Surovikin’s monthslong disappearance was the subject of much speculation in Russia, to the point that his daughter had to publicly claim he had not been arrested. Prigozhin had previously suggested that Surovikin be appointed to lead the entire Russian military.

Prigozhin himself kept his head down for months, but appeared Monday in his first recruitment video since the revolt. In the video, reportedly filmed in Africa, Prigozhin urged people to join Wagner Group with a goal of “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.”

With News Wire Services