A vital base for the qualified but incomplete Wagner Group, the private paramilitary that helps Vladimir Putin wage war in Ukraine, struck, according to Ukrainian and Russian sources.
It’s unclear how many fighters were wounded or killed in the attack, which was reportedly carried out over the weekend with a high-mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, which is designed for the U. S. military. It was handed over to Ukraine.
“There is no longer a Wagner headquarters in Popasna,” Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on Facebook, referring to the camp’s location in Luhansk, Ukraine, controlled by Russia. “Thank you, HIMARS and the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”
The Kremlin does verify the group’s lifestyles, nor its role as explained by Western intelligence sources, who claim that most of the fighters are recruited in Russian prisons. Some reports recommend that convicted killers be pardoned in exchange for six months of fighting in Ukraine.
The first news about the location of the base camp came on August 8, when Russian propaganda war correspondent Sergei Sreda recorded and posted selfies with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian oligarch known as the “Putin leader” who runs elite paramilitary assassins.
Some reports on Monday recommend that Prigozhin has not been heard since he was seen in the camp, but the recommendation that he killed in the attack remains only a glimmer of hope for Ukrainians.
To be sure, the images released through Sreda were intended to show a demonstration of Russia’s muscles, while reports of many casualties continue to counter Russian propaganda about the progress of the war. The photographs were temporarily removed from Telegram, but not before Ukrainian technicians geolocated them accurately enough to trigger the fatal attack.
Several Russian Telegram channels showed the coup on Sunday, the main points being confusing about the actual damage to the unit. Wagner’s fighters have been active in Crimea and the Donbass region since 2014 and have been deployed to help Putin’s allies and Russian interests in Syria, Libya. , Mali, as well as the Central African Republic.