According to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske, Russian Telegram channels shared photos of the results of an attack on a base in Popashna in the Luhansk region. Photos show wounded or dead soldiers emerging from the rubble as well as the destruction of the building. However, the official number of injured and dead has not been confirmed. Ukrainian army soldiers withdraw 15 100 mm guns in Soledar, eastern Ukraine, on February 27, 2015. Russian forces were hit by a Ukrainian HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery) missile system after the location of a base was revealed by a officer, According to the reports. Scott Peterson/Getty The base was attacked on Sunday and taken over by Group Wagner, a Russian paramilitary force fighting in Ukraine. Yuriy Kotenok, a Russian propagandist, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine had used HIMARS to target the Wagner Group, according to a Daily Kos report. However, Ukrainian forces have not confirmed whether this happened. Ukraine was informed of the base’s location when Russian war correspondent Serhiy Sreda came to the base on August 8, according to the Hromadske report. Shredda posted a photo showing the paramilitary force had set up a base in a residential building, referring to it as the group’s “headquarters”. One of the photos showed a sign with the address of the nearest bomb shelter, 12 Myronivska Street. Russian chef and Vladimir Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin is also seen in one of the photos with Sreda, however it has not been confirmed if he was at the base during the attack. Russian Telegram channel Radio Liberty also confirmed the strike and also noted that Sreda has since deleted his post, but it is still available on other Telegram channels. They also said that the Wagner PMC Telegram channels confirmed that they were attacked. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment. This successful strike comes after Ukraine announced it had inflicted significant casualties on Russian forces on Saturday. A post by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook said that Ukrainian forces managed to destroy nearly 20 tanks and armored vehicles in one attack. The post outlined Ukraine’s estimates of the total losses Russia has suffered since the start of the conflict on February 24, while also highlighting the latest additions. According to the post, a total of 43,550 of Russia’s military personnel have been killed and an additional 150 were killed on Saturday. A total of 1,864 tanks have been destroyed with another 8 tanks destroyed on Saturday. The publication also reported that 4,126 armored fighting vehicles have been destroyed in total, with 11 destroyed on Saturday. Last week, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said Russia had suffered a “tremendous” number of casualties since the war began. During a press conference on August 8, he said: “The Russians are taking a huge number of casualties on the other side of the equation. “As to the exact figures, there is a lot of fog in the war, but I think it is safe to say that the Russians have suffered 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months. “That’s a combination of killed in action and wounded. That number might be a little lower or higher, but I think it’s in that ballpark.”
