Governor who is exiled reports a strike on "Wagner HQ"

According to the governor-in-exile of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk, Ukrainian soldiers have attacked the headquarters of Russia's Wagner mercenary group.

Serhiy Haidai claimed that a hotel in Kadiivka, Luhansk, where the group convened had suffered significant losses.

Wagner's presence at the hotel was unable to be independently confirmed by the BBC.

Over the weekend, fighting also erupted in southern Ukraine, with Ukraine shelling a target in the seized city of Melitopol while Russia targeted Odesa.

Western experts claim that Wagner are state-sponsored mercenaries who serve the Kremlin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former restaurateur and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, founded the private military firm, which has been regularly accused of war crimes and violations of human rights.

Previous deployments of Wagner units included the Central African Republic, Mali, Libya, Syria, the Crimea, and Syria.

Mr. Haidai said that Russia had suffered "major losses" in the Kadiivka attack and predicted that "at least 50%" of the remaining fighters would perish from a lack of medical care.

Further fighting broke out in southern Ukraine at the same time as the attack on the "Wagner HQ" in the east.

The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that it had shot down 10 drones, five of which had attacked energy facilities in the port city of Odesa, knocking out electricity for 1.5 million people.

President Zelensky declared in his nightly video message that "the situation in the Odesa region is quite challenging." "Unfortunately, the damage was severe, and it will take more than just time to restore power. It takes a few days, not hours."

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian drones built in Iran attacked critical infrastructure.

Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, will preside over a G7 leaders' online meeting on Monday to consider more penalties against Iran and Russia.

The proposed actions would target Iran for providing drones to Russia, while the ninth batch of Russian penalties would add over 200 more people to the EU's list of sanctioned parties.

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