The Russian military has intensified its attacks along the eastern front in Ukraine, including the deployment of additional “kamikaze” drones, according to Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.
In a post to Telegram on Wednesday, Syrskyi, commander of Kyiv’s troops along the eastern front, said that Moscow lost more than 3,000 troops in the region over the past week. Eastern Ukraine has seen some of the most intense battles of the 22-month war, and Syrskyi noted in his post that the landscape “remains difficult.”
Despite the losses, Russia is continuing its offensive efforts just north of the city of Bakhmut, an industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region that was taken by Moscow after months of brutal battles in the spring. Syrskyi reported that Russia has deployed over 2,000 troops in the fight for Kupiansk—a city in the Kharkiv region that’s home to a key railway hub in northeastern Ukraine.
“The enemy has recently significantly increased the use of armored vehicles, kamikaze drones and continues to conduct intensive artillery fire,” Syrskyi wrote.
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While Ukraine has been largely leading the so-called drone war since Russia launched its invasion, Moscow has not been short on supply for its own airstrikes, thanks to the plethora of Iranian-made Shahed-131 kamikaze drones provided to the Kremlin’s military. The kamikazes are capable of lingering in an airspace, waiting before finding and engaging their targets.
Ukraine’s Air Force said last week that Russia has stocked enough kamikaze drones to hit Ukraine nearly every day. Kyiv officials previously warned that Moscow was stockpiling drones and missiles during the fall to launch a fresh wave of attacks in the winter.
Moscow has launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,700 Shahed attack drones since the start of the war in February 2022, Kyiv Air Force Spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments last week, as reported by Reuters. Ukrainian air defenses have shot down 1,600 of Moscow’s missiles and about 2,900 of its drone attacks.
Ihnat added in his comments that anywhere from 10 to 15 Ukrainian regions are “shooting down Shaheds every night.”
Syrskyi noted in his post Wednesday that Kyiv’s soldiers show “extraordinary professionalism and courage” despite the increasingly difficult situation in eastern Ukraine. In addition to Moscow losing thousands of troops, Syrskyi also reported that 361 units of Russian equipment—including 43 tanks and 83 armored vehicles—were destroyed over the past week.
“In the conditions of active hostilities, our priorities remain the preservation of the lives of our soldiers, the effective use of means of fire damage, constant reconnaissance and prompt decision-making,” the commander wrote.
Newsweek on Wednesday reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment on the current state of the war.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.