Ukraine’s government says a fresh wave of Russian missile attacks has destroyed an ammunition depot and injured dozens of civilians. This follows Russian attacks over the weekend blamed for two dozen civilian deaths. On Monday, Ukraine’s military struck inside Russian territory, derailing a freight train in the Russian border region of Bryansk, whose governor also said Ukrainian shelling on a Russian village killed four civilians. On Saturday, Ukrainian drone strikes blew up an oil depot in the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the leader of the private Russian mercenary firm Wagner Group has threatened mutiny unless Moscow agrees to send his forces more ammunition as they battle for control of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin lashed out against Russia’s military establishment in a video posted on a Russian social media channel.
Yevgeny Prigozhin: “Happy birthday! And happy birthday to Wagner Group! If the company is destined to die, it won’t be at the hands of the Ukrainian army or NATO, but because of our domestic bastard bureaucrats.”
On Monday, the Biden administration said Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties since December, with more than 20,000 Russian fighters killed in action. Many of the dead and wounded are Russian convicts whose sentences were pardoned in exchange for joining Wagner’s mercenary army.