Russian President Vladimir Putin has broken his silence on the plane crash that purportedly killed top leaders of the Wagner mercenary group.

Putin expressed condolences Thursday for those who were listed onboard the jet, including mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. He made the remarks while speaking with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine's partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, in a televised interview.

The crash was widely seen as an assassination to avenge a mutiny that challenged Putin.

"First of all I want to express words of sincere condolences to the families of all the victims," Putin said, adding: "I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early '90s. He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results."

He said that an investigation had been launched into the crash, and that "it will take some time."

"It will be conducted in full and brought to a conclusion. There is no doubt about that," Putin said.

On Wednesday, President Biden was asked if he believed Putin was behind it. He replied: "There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind, but I don't know enough to know the answer to that."

Earlier this week, Prigozhin appeared in his first video since leading a failed mutiny against Russian commanders in June. He could be seen standing in arid desert land, dressed in camouflage with a rifle in his hand, and hinting he's somewhere in Africa. He said Wagner was making Russia great on all continents, and making Africa "more free."

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