Ukrainian special forces v. the Wagner Group

 

When Russia meddles in other people's wars, it employs the notorious Wagner Group, a supposed private military contractor owned by the oligarch and Putin buddy Yevgeny Prigozhin (see Wiki for more on him and it). Now, because Putin shrinks from mobilizing the country, he's using it to fill the gaps in his depleted army. Today the invaluable Kyiv Independent has a story on how Ukrainian special forces arranged to hit a Wagner Group encampment and ammunition depot in an athletic stadium in the occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. 

The football or soccer stadium in the image above is located in the town of Kadiivka, 45 km (27 miles) behind what civilians know as "the front" but soldiers like to call the Main Line of Resistance. It seems that a Wagner Group company moved into the stadium's gym in May, which fact was reported to Ukrainian special forces by a local resident. After the information was verified, which took about two weeks, the stadium was hit on June 9 by a missile of unidentified type, killing between 50 and 150 mercenaries, with two civilian deaths. Some estimates are higher, while the Russians of course reported that a total of 22 civilians were killed when the missile hit a "residential area." (The inset photos are apparently from Russian television.)

The Wagner Group is also behind ransomware and cyber attacks on Western countries, apparently including the US elections of 2016 and 2020.