DAMAGE & DEATH IN WAKE OF COUP
Wagner leaves 40 slain in strike on air force & more
Russia was battered by all sides during an attempted weekend coup, with nearly 40 Russian airforce members reportedly shot down by the mutinous Wagner Group — and Ukraine taking advantage of the chaos.
Mercenaries with the infamous Wagner Group, which had been helping Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine, took out six specialized Russian helicopters and a hightech II-22 plane within hours of declaring war on their ally, according to the UK’s Express.
A top Russian general and as many as 20 combat pilots may have been killed in the strike, which is believed to have doomed up to 39 Russian air-force members in all, the outlet said.
The targeted plane, which was reportedly shot down by the very Pantsir missile system supplied to Wagner by the Kremlin, had 10 crew members on board, Russian Channel One correspondent Irina Kuksenkova said.
The Russian Defense Ministry declined to comment.
Toll on mercenaries
Shocking video emerged Saturday of a Russian chopper also deflecting a Wagner anti-aircraft missile in the Russian city of Voronezh, which saw its jet-fuel depot site struck by a missile.
Along with the killed airmen, Russian military analysts told The Wall Street Journal that some civilians and Wagner mercenaries were slain by bombs deployed to destroy the Moscow-Rostov highway to prevent the rebels from reaching the Kremlin.
The analysts said entire roads and bridges were badly damaged in the attempt to stop Wagner.
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin called off the insurrection after a little over a day in what the Kremlin called a brokered deal that has him exiled to Belarus in exchange for no prosecution.
After the attempted coup ended, Prigozhin ordered his soldiers to return to their camps in Ukraine. It remains unclear what their future roles in the war will be.
When Prigozhin turned on President Vladimir Putin — attacking the Russian dictator’s motives for the war and accusing his generals of bombing Wagner troops — Ukraine jumped into action to take advantage of the sensational infighting, said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
Over the weekend, Ukraine launched a series of simultaneous counterattacks as Moscow grappled with its insurgents, she said.
Ukrainian forces aimed at the enemy along the eastern border Saturday, including in Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Bohdanivka, Yahidne, Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka. Maliar said Ukraine made “progress in all directions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a “positive and inspiring conversation” with President Biden on Sunday.
“We discussed further expansion of defense cooperation, with an emphasis on long-range weapons,” Zelensky tweeted.
Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart that the US remains committed to helping repel Russian forces through security, economic and humanitarian aid, the White House said in a statement.