Ukrainian forces lost hundreds of troops and dozens of pieces of military equipment during fighting in the Donetsk oblast, Russia’s Defense Ministry has said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said that ammunition depots of the 27th Rocket Brigade and the 47th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces had been “wiped out” near the settlements of Lysovka and Zhelannoye.
Russian units, tactical aircraft crews and artillery forces “repelled an enemy attack” near Artyomovskoye, also known as Khromove, on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which has been fiercely fought over for months, the update said.
Units of Ukraine’s 42nd Mechanized Brigade, its 46th Air Mobile Brigade, its 80th Air Assault Brigade and 112th Territorial Defense Brigade were also hit in what Moscow calls the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Defense Ministry said.
“The total enemy losses amounted to 300 troops killed and wounded,” the statement said, adding that Ukraine also lost three tanks, one infantry fighting vehicle, three pick-up trucks, and 19 motor vehicles.
Russian troops also struck field guns, armed personnel carriers and U.S-supplied M109 Paladin and M119 towed howitzers.
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The Russian claims have not been independently verified. Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment.
They come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had suffered huge losses and urged the West to continue its support for Kyiv, especially given that Russia has stepped up its strikes against civilian targets over the New Year period.
Zelensky told The Economist that in the besieged eastern town of Avdiivka in Donetsk oblast, where Moscow launched an offensive in October, there are “thousands of killed Russian soldiers.”
Ukraine’s latest estimate of Russian troop losses since the start of the war totaled 360,820 on Tuesday. Kyiv has also tallied what it said were Russia’s highest monthly losses in December and November 2023.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported on Tuesday that overnight, it had shot down 59 Kh-101/555/55 cruise missiles, three Kalibr cruise missiles and 10 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles.
Russian forces had launched nearly 100 missiles, preceded by a wave of Shahed “kamikaze” drones in a similar mass attack that it carried out on December 29, the Air Force noted. The Russian bombardment killed at least four people, injured dozens, and left more than a quarter of a million citizens without electricity.
The attacks came a day after Putin said Moscow would intensify strikes in response to the shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, which Moscow blames on Kyiv and left two dozen dead and over 100 injured.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.