Reports of Fighting, Explosions in Occupied Crimea as UKRainian Special Forces Raid RUssians; Wagner Boss Prigozhin’s Body ‘identified by Missing Finger’; UKR Advances in Bakhmut, Melitopol Directions; RU Conducts Unsuccessful Assault Attempts in 2 Sectors, 26 Combat Clashes in Past Day

Reports of fighting, explosions in occupied Crimea as Ukrainian special forces raid Russians:

Sounds of battle were heard near the village of Mayak on Crimea’s Cape Tarkhankut early on the morning of Aug. 24, with Ukrainian intelligence sources later revealing Ukrainian that special forces had carried out a daring commando raid on the Russian-occupied peninsula.

Ukrainian intelligence sources told Radio Liberty project Krym.Realii that the raid, which involved naval and air assets took place at around 5 a.m.

While details remain scarce, the village of Mayak is home to a base of Russia’s 3rd Radio Regiment of the Aerospace Forces, according to Krym.Realii. There is also reportedly a Nebo-M and Kasta-2E2 radar node on the Tarkhankut Peninsula with air defense positions deployed along the perimeter, suggesting Ukraine may have engaged Russian military sites in the region. Neither side has officially commented on the reported incident as of yet.

Later on Aug. 24 video of parts of the raid started circulating on social media, with the sounds of gunfire and pictures of Ukrainian special forces soldiers with a Ukrainian flag.

The Defense Intelligence agency of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, known by its Ukrainian acronym HUR, then released a statement on the raid:

“Overnight on Aug. 24, an operation of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine took place, with support from the Ukrainian Navy, in temporarily occupied Crimea. Special units on watercraft landed on the shore in the area of the settlements of ​​Olenivka and Mayak —>READ MORE HERE

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s body ‘identified by missing finger’:

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s body was identified by a missing part of his finger, it has been reported, as the British Ministry of Defence said the Russian warlord’s death would have a “deeply destabilising” impact on the private army.

The mercenary group boss, and nine others, are believed to have been killed when a business jet crashed in Russia’s Tver region after a suspected explosion on Wednesday evening.

Wagner field commander Dimitry Utkin and logistics chief Valery Chekalov are also thought to have perished in the crash, which came two months after Prigozhin ordered his soldiers to march on Moscow in a short lived mutiny against Vladimir Putin.

Kristina Raspopova, a 39-year-old air stewardess, was the only woman to be killed. Shortly before take-off she had shared an image on social media of her eating breakfast with her cabin bag next to her.

Prigozhin’s body was reportedly identified by a partially missing finger on his left hand – an injury he sustained while serving time in a penal colony, Russian new sourced reported.

In its morning briefing, the MoD said it was “highly likely” the former Putin loyalist died in the plane crash, but warned there was “not yet definitive proof”.

“The demise of Prigozhin would almost certainly have a deeply destabilising effect on the Wagner Group,” it added.

“His personal attributes of hyper-activity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor. —>READ MORE HERE

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+++++General Staff: Ukraine advances in Bakhmut, Melitopol directions+++++

+++++Enemy conducts unsuccessful assault attempts in two sectors, 26 combat clashes in past day+++++

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