Ukraine’s Air Force: Wagner mercenaries down 6 Russian army helicopters, 1 plane on June 24

The Wagner Group mercenaries downed six Russian army helicopters and one plane on June 24, Yurii Ihnat, Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman, told the national television on June 25.

Russia lost two attack helicopters and four transport ones.

“Mi-8 transport helicopters are powerful hardware that really helps the Russian army in its war against Ukraine,” the spokesperson said.

The Russian pro-Kremlin military bloggers reported on June 24 that the Wagner troops downed one Ka-52 attack helicopter, one Mi-8 transport helicopter, three Mi-8 electronic warfare helicopters, one Mi-35 attack helicopter, and one Il-18 aircraft.

The day-long armed rebellion of the Wagner mercenary group was over by the end of June 24, as its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said that his forces would return to military camps after seizing Russian army Southern Military District headquarters in the city of Rostov.

On June 23, Prigozhin announced a march against Russian military leadership “to restore justice” after alleging that a missile strike on his mercenaries' camp inside the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory caused substantial casualties.

The Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 24 that the insurrection case against Prigozhin would be dropped, and he would move to Belarus.

The Wagner mercenaries are infamously known for their brutal assault tactics, most recently in Bakhmut.

Multiple countries, including the U.S., have designated Wagner as an international criminal organization.

Russia comes to the brink of civil war: How we got here and what it means

Visually, the scene was a familiar one. Russian armored vehicles emblazoned with the Z logo in the central streets of a once peaceful city, masked soldiers standing at key intersections, and confrontational conversations with bemused local civilians. But this wasn’t a Ukrainian city in the first da…

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell