(Getty Images)Editor’s Note: The names of the people interviewed by the Kyiv Independent have been changed in this story to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger Not all of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian positions end up circulating on social media like the recent strikes on what Ukraine says are over 30 Russian ammunition depots in the occupied east and south much more discrete operations that Ukraine carries out deep into Russian-occupied territories Among these low-profile operations was the destruction of a Wagner Group base 45 kilometers east of the front line in Russian-occupied Kadiivka in Luhansk Oblast in early June Read Also: Ukraine targets Russia’s ammunition depots, undermining its artillery advantage Russia deployed the Wagner Group a Russian-controlled mercenary group operating at the Kremlin’s request around the world to eastern Ukraine amid its military’s “heavy losses,” the U.K “I was one of the first to find out that they had arrived and were stationed at the local stadium,” Oleh (Editor’s note: The name has been changed to protect his identity.) Living in a Russian-occupied city for the past eight years Oleh has been cooperating with Ukrainian authorities constantly providing them with intelligence “I passed this information to the right people,” Oleh said the Ukrainian military hit the base with artillery on June 9 killing anywhere between 50-200 mercenaries according to different estimates and destroying their weapons depot The Kyiv Independent has recreated the events of the operation based on conversations with local civilians and sources in intelligence agencies Some Ukrainians who remained in Russian-occupied territories have been helping to identify Russian troops a member of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces The Special Operations Forces is a branch of Ukraine’s Armed Forces that conducts reconnaissance missions and covert operations behind enemy lines It was through locals that intelligence officers learned in May about the Wagner Group mercenaries stationed in Kadiivka it would have been impossible,” Anton says It became clear it wasn’t the Russian Armed Forces a specific branch of the Russian army,” he said widely known as a private military company is controlled by the Kremlin through Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin often dubbed “Putin’s chef,” because another company of his provides food catering to the Kremlin Read Also: Putin lacks troops in Ukraine but fears mobilization in Russia The group consists mostly of former Russian servicemen and has previously been involved in wars and armed conflicts in Ukraine Prigozhin has also been in control of Russian “troll factories” operating on social media Prigozhin was charged with “funding and organizing operations for the purpose of interfering with U.S and other crimes including identity theft,” according to a U.S Anton was the first to receive a message from Oleh Oleh declined to say how he was able to pass the information about Wagner Group's location to Ukraine’s Special Forces so as not to endanger future operations “Transmission always happens in different ways One informant may hand over information immediately It's often a matter of chance,” Anton says which generally include open-source intelligence methods Anton doesn't make decisions on specific targets He says there are no reports or “unnecessary paperwork,” and a limited number of people are in the loop to prevent the information from leaking He didn’t reveal how the information is verified after which a final decision is made on the target “One of the problems is when a new group of Russians settles on the lower floor of an apartment building using civilians as a human shield,” says Anton “They can settle between a kindergarten and a school the Wagner mercenaries in Kadiivka had settled at a stadium in a residential area Read Also: As Ukraine withdraws from Sievierodonetsk, Battle of Donbas enters next phase Oleh says a target is never destroyed the day after information is passed along For the strike on the Wagner base in Kadiivka preparations took about two weeks – from receiving the tip in May to striking the group on June 9 local residents continuously checked to make sure the mercenaries continued to occupy the building many locals knew that the Wagner Group was stationed in the city “Wagner mercenaries don’t know how to keep their mouths shut,” he says “They themselves went around and introduced themselves as ‘an orchestra’ or ‘musicians’” These self-given monikers are references to German composer Richard Wagner whom the group is believed to be named after ‘we are an orchestra on a tour here,’” says Oleh Oleh found out exactly where the mercenaries were living at the stadium: in a large gym at the stadium’s premises the mercenaries set up an ammunition depot with four or five of them standing guard there published by Russian propagandists after Ukraine hit it I don’t think they even know how many of them were in town,” Anton says It’s unknown what this group was doing or preparing to do in the Donbas more professional and experienced than regular Russian troops or their local collaborators Ukraine hit the stadium with artillery on early in the morning on June 9 The Special Operation Forces’ serviceman and his informant disagree on what weapons Ukraine used to hit the stadium Anton says the strike was carried out with a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System But Ukraine only officially deployed HIMARS in Donbas in the second half of June Russian-controlled proxies reported shelling conducted by a Grad self-propelled multiple rocket launcher photos of the site don’t show multiple impact areas that would have been left by this type of rocket launcher “The place was immediately cordoned off after the attack,” says Oleh The local militia was not allowed to enter it was difficult to verify information on casualties After a laptop was found at the site by a local it was immediately torn out of his hands by the Russians,” says Oleh Anton puts the number of killed mercenaries at around 250 highly trained fighters is a lot,” says Anton Read Also: Does Belarus' military have the capacity to attack Ukraine? Oleh's information from the field is more modest “Rescuers at the scene said there were 50 killed Some of my sources said the dead were taken to a morgue in Luhansk There they said that there were 150 bodies,” he added Russian-controlled proxies reported that 22 civilians were killed in the attack They reported it as a strike on a residential area and didn’t mention the presence of any military at all Ukraine said only two civilians were killed as a result of the strike “The (Russian-controlled proxies’) number was inflated they recorded 20 Wagner mercenaries as civilians,” says Oleh the Wagner mercenaries on the site were mostly killed by concrete parts of the building crushing them Since the military occupation of Kadiivka began in 2014 Oleh has helped Ukraine in any way possible handing over sensitive information to Ukrainian special services the Ukrainian military was not shooting at bases and warehouses like they do now Although the data was still transmitted,” he says Ukraine hit a base near my town for the first time I've been waiting for this for eight years,” Oleh recounted Oleh has had more and more reasons to celebrate Ukrainian troops have hit six ammunition depots so far when according to Russian-controlled proxies An ammunition depot caught fire as a result Oleh says the new long-range artillery provided by the West is significantly reducing the opportunity for Russian troops to conduct attacks and shelling of Ukrainian territory Oleh and others continue their resistance by helping Ukraine far behind the front lines Alexander Khrebet is a reporter with the Kyiv Independent alleged abuse of power in the country’s military leadership and reports on the Russian-occupied territories Alexander is the European Press Prize 2023 winner the #AllForJan Award 2023 winner and Ukraine's 2022 National Investigative Journalism Award finalist His was published in the Washington Times and Atlantic Council Ukrainian artillerymen in Donetsk region carried out several extremely effective strikes against the russians The long way for at least 12 russians turned out to be the last and quite a large number of invaiders were injured The barracks with the occupiers in Kadiivka were also destroyed by the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration we hit several warehouses with ammunition and clusters of occupiers only in Luhansk region There were many successful hits in Donetsk region as well which does not allow the enemy to attack more intensively I will say more - every night they do not sleep but wait for what they can hit." - added Serhii Gaidai we note that the appearance of russian OMON from Sakhalin near Lysychansk is quite revealing The fact is that in the russian federation OMON belongs to the special forces and is structurally part of the National Guard of the russian federation The main task of these ruusians units in the occupied territory is terrorizing the population and organizing so-called "filtration measures" with concentration camps OMON (Russian: ОМОН – Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения previously russian: Отряд Милиции Особого Назначения 'Special Purpose Unit of the Militia') is a system of special police units within the National Guard of russia It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and russian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD) Originating as the special forces unit of the Soviet Militsiya in 1988 it has played major roles in several armed conflicts during and following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union as well as in many major cities; since 2016 these OMON units report directly to the National Guard Forces Command as part of its regional district commands while these are expected to be deployed in support of the police forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Information from different sources suggested that there were between 10,500 and 15,000 OMON members stationed at population centers and transportation hubs around the country during the 1990s This number officially rose to about 20,000 nationwide by 2007; the biggest OMON unit in russia Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Russia has occupied the town of Kadiivka in Ukraine’s Luhansk region since 2014, when the Kremlin provided a small pro-Moscow separatist movement with direct military and economic support. Although many people escaped to areas of Ukraine that were under the control of the government in Kyiv, Kariakin’s parents decided to stay. He was 17 at the time. “I hid my pro-Ukrainian views. For those eight years, I kept my circle of friends and acquaintances to the very minimum,” Registered in England No. 894646. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. [email protected] Russian mercenary and propagandist Igor Magnushev known for performing on stage with a skull allegedly belonging to a deceased Azovstal defender in hand six months ago died in the hospital after being wounded in the head This was reported by Russian propagandist Akim Apachev Magnushev was shot in the head a few days ago in Kadiyivka Mangushev pushed the Russian propaganda narratives and called for a genocide of Ukrainians He stated that the Russian Federation was "at war not with the people and also that "all bearers of this idea must be exterminated." On February 4 it was reported that Igor Magnushev had been shot in the head it could have been done by the Kadyrovites The wounded propagandist was taken to the neurosurgery ward of one of a hospital in Russian-occupied Kadiyivka (Stakhanov before decommunization) As IMI reported, Russian propagandist from the Telegram channel "Readovka", Anastasia Yelsukova, was wounded in the leg during her illegal trip to Ukraine [email protected] (050) 447-70-63 Ідентифікатор медіа: R40-01250 Reprinting and disseminating our information is allowed but under strictly condition of reference to the source