AFU hits Wagner PMC base in Popasna, Russian Telegram channels report

The Wagner PMC base in Popasna has been hit, report pro-Russian Telegram channels, in particular, the one run by the military correspondent Yuri Kotenok, as well as the Reverse Side of the Medalchannel which posts news about the “Wagnerites” and mercenary recruitment ads. Kotenok writes that the strike was probably carried out using a HIMARS MLRS.

On August 8, military correspondent Sergey Sreda published photos of Wagner PMC mercenaries in Popasna. It is not known when exactly they were taken. The photos also showed a man who looks like Yevgeny Prigozhin. The location where those photos were taken is very similar to the one that was hit.

On July 20, it was reported that servicemen of the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vygovsky of the Armed Forces of Ukraine liquidated a group of Wagner mercenaries.

The capture of Popasna is considered the main achievement of the Wagner PMC. Meduza wrote about it in an investigation about mercenaries in the war in Ukraine. After the PMC occupied the Ukrainian settlement, VGTRK correspondent Sergei Zenin praised them: “This section of the front line even has its own “military band,” which is always there when there’s action, but there’s never a word about it,” he said. Zenin did not mention that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies accused three PMC mercenaries of committing war crimes and killing civilians.

After the settlement had been seized, the PMC mercenaries were awarded medals “For the Capture of Popasna”. Prigozhin, according to a number of Telegram channels, was awarded the Star of a Hero of Russia by a secret decree. Press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov did not deny those reports.

Update. After the news had been published, the post with photos of the base disappeared from Sergei Sreda’s channel. However, the pictures remained on the Vkontakte page run by the press service of Prigozhin's company “Conkord”.