Ukraine claims strike at Russian paramilitary base in Melitopol: Report 16Aug 2022

Ukraine claims strike at Russian paramilitary base in Melitopol

Little is known about the obscure paramilitary group, which is believed to be linked to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, himself a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine said on Monday it had attacked a base used by a Russian paramilitary group as well as a bridge near the occupied city of Melitopol.

Sergei Gede, governor of the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine, said the Wagner group’s base was “destroyed by a precision attack”.

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Little is known about the obscure paramilitary group, which is believed to be linked to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, himself a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

The presence of Wagner paramilitary forces has been documented in Libya, Mali and Syria, among many other countries – particularly in Africa.

Ukrainian officials also said saboteurs blew up a railway bridge southwest of the city of Melitopol, which is held by Russian troops.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram that the strike meant there would be a “complete absence of military trains from Crimea”.

The Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, is an essential base for supplying Russian troops stationed in southern Ukraine.

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Ukraine has said it is launching a counter-offensive in the country’s south, recapturing dozens of villages and threatening to push Russian troops to the other side of the Dnieper River.

Meanwhile, in Odessa on the Black Sea, three people died while swimming due to the detonation of “an unknown explosive device”, said Sergei Brachuk, a spokesman for the local authorities.

Officials have warned beach-goers not to enter the sea without an explosion due to the presence of mines.

Earlier on Monday, Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed at least one person and injured six others, a senior police officer Sergei Bolvinov said on Facebook.

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Ukraine claims strike at Russian paramilitary base in Melitopol

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)