Yevgeny Prigozhin made the remark on social media on Tuesday, the UK’s The Telegraph newspaper reported.
In a statement issued through his press office on the Vkontakte social media platform, Prigozhin said: “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy.”
The Wagner Group financier added, referring to Zelensky: “Don’t underestimate him.”
Prigozhin’s statement contradicts the official Kremlin line, which is to portray Zelensky as “a drug-addicted neo-Nazi,” The Telegraph noted.
The Wagner Group founder has grown in influence over the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Wagner fighters play a leading role in many parts of the front line, news outlets have reported.
Moreover, Prigozhin has dared to privately confront the Russian president over the Ukraine war in recent weeks, according to US intelligence, The Telegraph reported.
Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kazyrov have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of Russia’s military commanders overseeing the invasion of Ukraine, according to the UK newspaper.
Ukraine grain exports to resume in Black Sea on Thursday
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has announced that the United Nations has confirmed the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Russia on Saturday said it was suspending its participation in the initiative, which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July to secure grain and fertiliser exports from Ukraine.
Kubrakov wrote on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday: “Black Sea Grain Initiative continues. On Thursday, November 3rd, 8 vessels with agricultural products are expected to pass through the grain corridor. We got confirmation from the United Nations. Also, inspections will be carried out in the Bosphorus tomorrow.”
Russian exports grow: NYT
The total value of Russia’s exports has grown since its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Wednesday, citing The New York Times.
Although Russia’s imports from most countries have decreased sharply, some countries, especially Turkey and China, have increased their trade with Russia, according to the NYT.
First lady urges tech community to help Ukraine
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska has called on the world’s technology community to help stop Russia’s invasion of her country and save lives, the PAP news agency reported.
In a speech to the 2022 Lisbon Web Summit conference, Zelenska said: "Your chosen profession - your field of expertise - is now a battlefield in Russia’s war against Ukraine."
She said that so far technology was being used mainly to assist “Russia’s terrorist hits” rather than help the people of Ukraine.
Zelenska went on to say: "I believe that technology should be used to create, and to save and help people, not to destroy. I believe that such technology is the future. If it’s not, there simply won't be a future to look forward to.".
She added, as cited by euronews.com: "You are the force that moves the world. You have a potential and technologies that can help, but not destroy. I am certain that, by helping Ukraine, you can move the world in the right direction. So I invite you to do so. Let's do it together."
Ukraine continues counteroffensive in Luhansk region
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued to conduct counteroffensive operations in the directions of Svatove and Kreminna” in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War has reported.
In its latest analysis of the war in Ukraine, published on Tuesday night, the US think tank said that Russian forces “continued defensive preparations while Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in Kherson Oblast” in southern Ukraine.
Russian occupation officials also “continued to set conditions for the long-term and permanent relocation of residents from the east bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast,” according to the ISW.
Meanwhile, Russian troops “continued to conduct offensive operations around Bakhmut and around Donetsk City” in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, as well as “to strengthen Russian control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant” in southeastern Ukraine, the Washington-based think tank said.
Wednesday is day 252 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, understandingwar.org, telegraph.co.uk, euronews.com