Russia attacks Ukraine’s Odesa region, drones downed over Crimea and southern Russia, Wagner Group mercenary shot while on leave

Novaya-Europe’s round-up

It is day 558 of the war in Ukraine. Russia attacked the Odesa region of Ukraine using Shahed-136 drones, 17 of which were downed by the Ukrainian military. The Russian Defence Ministry said it had shot down incoming drones over the Kursk region and annexed Crimea, as well as destroying four Ukrainian naval craft in the Black Sea. An unknown assailant shot at a Wagner mercenary on leave in the Russian city of Bataysk. The dousing of Russian lawyer Elena Ponomareva in green dye in July has been reclassified as an attempt to distort the course of justice.

Novaya-Europe’s news round-up will brief you on the main developments overnight.

Russia attacks Odesa region using Shahed drones

The Russian army attacked the Odesa region of Ukraine with Shahed-136 drones overnight, Odesa politician Serhiy Bratchuk said on Monday.

According to Bratchuk, while 17 drones were downed by Ukrainian air defence, multiple warehouses and industrial buildings were damaged in the attacks, though he said there had been no reported casualties.

The Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper said that the attack on the Izmail district of the region had lasted for nearly two hours.

Russia’s Defence Ministry reports shooting down two Ukrainian drones and destroying four Ukrainian naval vessels

The Russian Defence Ministry said it had shot down two Ukrainian drones “over the waters of the Black Sea near the Crimean peninsula and over the territory of Kursk region”, in a statement issued on Monday.

According to the ministry, the attacks occurred around 1 AM Monday morning. The ministry also reported destroying four Ukrainian military craft in the waters of the north-western Black Sea.

“The Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation destroyed 4 U.S.-manufactured Willard Sea Force high-speed military boats with AFU landing groups moving towards Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast,” the ministry said in a statement.

Wagner Group mercenary shot in southern Russia’s Rostov region

A Wagner Group mercenary was shot on Sunday by an unknown assailant in the city of Bataysk in southwestern Russia, the governor of the Rostov region Vasily Golubev announced on Sunday evening.

According to the regional Interior Ministry cited by Russian state news agency TASS, the attacker fired at the mercenary 12 times with a pistol. A criminal case has been opened.

The mercenary has been identified in media reports as a 28-year-old who recently returned from Ukraine. He was reportedly also part of the Wagner Group’s deployment in Africa and planned to return to Ukraine in the near future.

The attack is believed to have happened after an altercation in a local cafe. The victim’s condition is not known, though one of the bullets is reported to have hit him in the head.

Green dye attack on Russian lawyer to be classified as attempt to pervert justice

The dousing of Russian lawyer Elena Ponomareva with green dye in July is to be investigated as an attempt to pervert the course of justice, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported on Monday.

Initially, the case against 25-year-old Igor Karpov and 39-year-old Pavel Morozov, the two men accused of attacking Ponomareva, was classified as hooliganism carried out by a group of people using objects as weapons. The reclassification of the case means that they could now be facing up to 10 years in jail.

According to Vedomosti, the Russian Investigative Committee believes the suspects were paid to attack Ponomareva. The order was allegedly made in connection to a criminal case that Ponomareva had worked on in the past against the founders of a darknet store that sold drugs. Ponomareva has said she believes the attack was an act of revenge by the drug dealers.

Karpov and Morozov, who both have criminal records, had wanted to claim a reward of 100,000 rubles (€959) that was promised on the darknet for dousing Ponomareva in green dye, according to the Investigative Committee.