Ukrainian forces have attacked a hotel used as a base by Russia’s Wagner Group in occupied Luhansk and killed many, according to a local governor.
The region’s exiled governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a strike on a hotel in the city of Kadiivka, in the east of the country.
Photos posted on Telegram channels showed a building largely reduced to rubble, although they could not be verified.
‘They had a little pop there, just where Wagner headquarters was located,’ Gaidai said.
‘A huge number of those who were there died,’ he said.
Mr Gaidai declined to give casualty figures but said those who survived faced inadequate medical services to treat them.
‘I am sure that at least 50% of those who managed to survive will die before they get medical care,’ he said. ‘This is because even in our Luhansk region, they have stolen equipment.’
Gaidai has previously reported strikes by Ukrainian forces on other targets in Luhansk region, including on a Wagner headquarters in the town of Popasna in August.
The Wagner Group – a brutal mercenary group who act as Putin’s personal army – have been accused of numerous rights violations, including torture and killings.
Controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of the Russian president, the group has been recruiting convicts and sending them to the frontlines in a desperate bid to turn the tides of their failing invasion.
The hotel was believed to have been hit by a HIMARS strike, a multiple rocket launcher, with some Ukrainian media reporting it had been closed for some time.
The news comes following reports of a Ukrainian assault in Melitopol which killed around 200 Russian troops, which if true, would be one of the deadliest assaults on Putin’s forces since the invasion began in February.
Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov confirmed at least four missiles had struck the city and hit a holiday resort which had been commandeered as a headquarters by Russian forces.
Kremlin officials have confirmed the strike and claimed it was carried out by US-supplied HIMARS missiles, although they downplayed the death toll.
