On the morning of June 9, explosions at the Peremoha Stadium in occupied Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov) in Luhansk oblast. The gym and other administrative premises were destroyed there.
According to Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk oblast military administration, the Wagnerʼs mercenary base was located in the stadiumʼs gym, which was successfully covered by the Armed Forces. Photos and videos of the fire from the scene were posted on social networks.
According to Haidai, only one mercenary survived the shelling.
There is no reliable information about the number of Wagnerians killed. Local chat rooms and social media groups are discussing the death toll from 60 to 300. According to them, such consequences of the shelling were caused by the detonation of ammunition in the gym.
What do Russian sources say
Various pro-Russian Telegram channels partially confirm that the Wagner base was located at the stadium. They also say that the attack on June 9 was not accidental — the city at the time was allegedly the owner of the "Wagnerians", close to Putin businessman Eugene Prigogine, as well as the actual head of the PEC — a special forces officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin.
Locals write that the Pryhozhin and Utkin themselves were not injured and at the time of the shelling allegedly spent the night in a hotel near the base. The location of the Wagnerians in Kadiivka is also quite possible, as their mercenaries have been spotted in the Popasna direction many times over the last month. Popasna is located just 20 kilometers from Kadiivka.
In addition, the locals themselves have been constantly writing for the past two months about the huge number of military and equipment in the city going to the front.
What "official" information
Local "services" of Luhansk Peopleʼs Republic militants report only that the Armed Forces fired on civilian infrastructure and do not mention military bases in the city. They confirm the destruction of the gym and other complexes in the stadium. Also in "Luhansk Peopleʼs Republic" report also about a number of other destructions in the territory of the city.
Initially, according to LPR rescuers, two locals were killed and four were injured in the shelling. It was reported that all fires were extinguished and the rubble of destroyed houses and infrastructure was dismantled. However, later the death toll rose sharply to 22 people. Exactly where 20 more people died is not mentioned in the LPR.