Day 547.
On 24 August, more information became available about the crush of the private jet that reportedly killed the Head of the Wagner Group, Evgeniy Prigozhin, his right hand, Dmytro Utkin, and the Head of Security, Valery Chekalov.
As of 24 August, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed that Prigozhin was present on the board, according to the records. The investigators of the crush also have just found the remnants of Prigozhin’s mobile phone.
In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the crush. Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those who died in the crash and added that although Prigozhin had a troubled fate, he was a very useful person who helped to achieve many goals.
Russian media has also started promoting a new version of the cause of the crash. Although the locals heard two explosions and saw contrails, characteristic of air defense work, it was claimed that the crash likely happened due to the explosion inside the plane, possibly sabotage.
It was reported that the plane recently underwent some out-of-schedule reparations when someone could have planted an explosive device.
But the biggest news as of 24 August is that Ukrainian forces landed on the Crimean shore.
On 24 August, around 5 a.m., Ukrainians reportedly used up to 4 boats carrying GUR special forces and performed a special operation in Cape Tarkhankut. This is exactly where the same forces destroyed a Russian air defense system on 23 August, reportedly by launching an anti-ship missile from a boat.
The target of the special forces became the base of the Russian radio-radar troops, where Russian forces have powerful multi-functional radar systems, such as Nebo-M, and modern radar systems for low-level surveillance, such as Kasta 2E.
Russian sources reported that Ukrainians managed to land on the shore and opened fire at the Russian forces.
Russian sources admitted that Ukrainians raised their flag above the settlement, as seen from the combat footage. However, they claimed Russian forces were ready to meet the attackers, quickly returned fire from machine guns, and destroyed all four boats and crew members. Later released footage confirms that Ukrainian boat crews safely withdrew.
Even Russian military bloggers reacted to this with harsh skepticism and said that this was a lame attempt to cover up Crimea’s complete lack of protection.
Moreover, some less prominent Russian sources released footage from the base, clearly showing that Russians were not prepared to be ambushed at night.
The Spokesman for Ukrainian Intelligence confirmed that Ukrainian special forces landed on the Crimean shore, attacked Russian forces, damaged 4 Russian boats, killed 30 Russian troops, raised the Ukrainian flag, and withdrew before Russians understood what was happening.
The landing on Crimea is especially symbolic because Ukrainians are celebrating the Independence Day of Ukraine on 24 August.
In the meantime, Ukrainian forces conducted more than a dozen successful strikes on the Russian bases. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that the Ukrainian Air Force and Artillery jointly struck four command posts, ten areas of enemy forces concentrations, four air defense systems, and two artillery systems.
The biggest strike happened in Tokmak. It was reported that here, due to the HIMARS strike, Ukrainians destroyed an important Russian command post on the territory of a Russian base.
This is extremely important given that Tokmak is the closest Russian stronghold to the front, where Ukrainians recently breached Russian defense and established total control over Robotyne.
Today, Ukrainian fighters reported that Ukrainians are already advancing on the next settlement on the line – Novoprokopivka – while Russian forces are retreating.
The derangement of the command on this front line will exacerbate the situation even more and possibly allow Ukrainians to generate new gains much more easily.
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