Flames have engulfed the former military base of Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries it has been reported, in an incident which follows suspected Ukrainian drone strikes on ammunition depots key to Moscow’s war effort.
The fire broke out at the base in Molkino, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region bordering Ukraine on Saturday, according to a Telegram social media outlet linked to the private military company, the fighters of which had played a key role in President Vladimir Putin‘s full-scale invasion.
The Wagner Orchestra Telegram channel posted videos it said showed the base’s administrative buildings and the headquarters on fire with smoke billowing into the air.
Molkino was the main Wagner base for nearly a decade and was reportedly to be handed over to Russia’s Africa Corps, a unit of former mercenaries subordinate to the Russian Defense Ministry, independent Russian outlet Meduza reported.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
This illustrative image from October 1, 2023 shows a man with a flag of the Wagner group on top of an old tank exhibited at the Leninist Komsomol park in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine. A Wagner base in Russia’s Krasnodar region has reportedly been hit by an explosion on September 21, 2024.
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Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had criticized Russia’s defense establishment over its wartime conduct and launched a mutiny in June 2023, marching on Moscow before standing down the rebellion.
Prigozhin was killed in an unexplained plane crash two months later and since then, the mercenary group has fragmented, operating in Belarus and some African nations such as Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger.
No cause for the blaze at the Wagner site has been given yet but pro-Ukrainian X users noted that it followed a fire at a military depot in the village of Kamenny, in the Tikhoretsky district of Krasnodar, only around 100 miles further north.
In Krasnodar Krai, it’s not just the ammo depot and airfield in Tikhoretsk that are up in flames. Molkino base, once home to Wagner mercenaries and used by the African Corps, is also seeing action. Looks like they might be relocating soon pic.twitter.com/mwKB8L5Kja
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) September 21, 2024
That ammunition depot reportedly housed munitions from North Korea and had been hit by debris from drones, which set off detonations in what the Krasnodar regional governor described as a “terrorist attack” by Kyiv which has not commented.
“It’s not just the ammo depot and airfield in Tikhoretsk that are up in flames. Molkino base, once home to Wagner mercenaries and used by the African Corps, is also seeing action,” posted security expert Maria Avdeeva on X. “Looks like they might be relocating soon,”
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on military targets deep inside Russian territory, while Moscow continues to use missiles and drones to hit Ukrainian infrastructure.
Also overnight Friday, another ammunition depot was hit in the village of Oktyabrsky in the Tver region near a weapons depot in Toropets, one of Russia’s largest arsenals, which was reportedly attacked by Ukrainian drones on Wednesday.
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