A Ukrainian missile attack on a hotel in the east of the country killed members of the Wagner Corporationa Russian paramilitary force whose leader has close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin, Ukrainian regional military authorities said.
The head of the Ukrainian regional government in exile in Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, said in a post on the social messaging app Telegram that “many” members of Wagner’s forces were killed in the attack on the owner. in the city of Kadiivka, which is west of the city of Luhansk, the capital of the region. He posted a grainy photo, apparently taken at night, of a courtyard surrounded on three sides by a two-story building, which appeared to have been destroyed by an explosion. There is a hole in the middle of the yard.
A HIMARS rocket destroyed the hotel near the central market and rescuers were clearing the rubble, a Telegram report by Russian state news agency Tass said. It cited the office of the town mayor in the self-proclaimed and Russian-backed Luhansk People’s Republic.
There is no independent confirmation of the attack, or of the photos, but it would fit the pattern of attacks by Ukrainian forces on key points of military infrastructure or troop concentrations in the territory. territory occupied by Russian forces. In recent months, Ukraine has used longer-range weapons, such as HIMARS, a US-supplied system capable of pinpointing targets behind Russian lines.
Wagner Corporation,edited by businessman Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, played a central role in Russia’s effort to attack the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, which borders Luhansk. The fighting lasted for months in the context of heavy losses on both sidesIt is one of the most atrocious acts since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Military experts say capturing Bakhmut will have limited strategic value to Moscow but it will serve political purposes as Russia last captured an important Ukrainian city in the summer and Since September, Russia has suffered a series of casualties on the battlefield in the northeast. and the south of the country.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said Kiev’s goal is to regain all of the territory occupied by Russia since 2014. Its campaign in the south and east has been slowed in recent weeks by winter. begins, although this doesn’t change the tempo of a longer fight. attack range.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the speed of ground attack could increase rapidly as winter is more severe.
He told journalists in the city of Odesa on Sunday: “We have seen rains and very difficult conditions for attacks from any side because of the wet ground and vehicles. there is bread that is difficult to pass through”. “But the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not thinking about stopping. So, while the position is firmer, I firmly believe that we will continue our counter-attacks, our campaign to liberate our territory.”
The absence from the battlefield has not stopped artillery attacks on civilians in the Donbas, an area where Ukrainian authorities for months have advised non-combatants to leave. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Ukrainian military junta in Donetsk, said one person was killed on Sunday in the province and eight were injured on Monday.
