The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Heydey, announced that the country’s forces had hit the organization’s main operation in the eastern city of Popashna, according to the BBC. Kremlin pro-war reports also acknowledged the attack. The Wagner Group came under fire after a tweet by a Russian propagandist posted the headquarters address. TelegramUkraine claims to have hit the base of the private military company Wagner in Popashna with a missile strike. HS Kharkiv Telegram channel Details about the strike were not immediately clear, including the death toll in the attack and the extent of the damage it caused. Ukraine was able to locate the headquarters after a Russian propagandist, Sergei Shredda, accidentally revealed its location in photos posted on Telegram on August 8, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported. The video showed a sign with the address of a nearby bomb shelter, which allowed Kyiv to seize the location. The shadowy Wagner group was also used by Russia in the 2014 Crimean War and has been seen in Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic, according to the BBC. Members of the group have repeatedly attempted to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to multiple reports. The group is believed to be behind some of the world’s worst atrocities and was linked in 2021 to widespread rape and robbery of civilians in the Central African Republic. “The Russian government has found Wagner and other private military companies useful as a way to extend its influence abroad without the visibility and intrusiveness of state military forces,” according to a report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. – based on the think tank. The group was reportedly founded by Dmitry Utkin, a former special forces colonel and veteran of two wars in Chechnya. Wagner is believed to be owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch known as “Putin’s cook” because his restaurants and catering companies have hosted lavish dinners for the president’s inner circle. In 2016, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Prigozhin for “having material assistance, sponsoring or providing financial, material or technological support… in support of senior officials of the Russian Federation”.
