Moscow/Leopolis (Ukraine) (EFE) Casualties are mounting on both sides.
In the past twenty-four hours, Russian troops intensified their attacks, especially with the use of assault aircraft and artillery, on the eastern fronts of Ukraine, according to the report of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which estimated around 450 casualties in the Ukrainian ranks during the past day.
Just today, the interim leader imposed by Russia in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, stated that the Russian troops have no priority objectives, since the mission is to “liberate” all of the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic.
Regarding the situation around Bakhmut (Artiomovsk, for the Russians), where the fighting has intensified in recent weeks, he admitted that “at the moment there are no signs that the Kiev regime has begun to withdraw its fighters and save its depleted units”.
Pushilin recalled that Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky declared that his army does not intend to defend Bakhmut at “any price” and that it will do so “as long as it is reasonable.”
In turn, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the country’s forces inflicted 650 fatalities on Russian troops.
Russia attacks in all eastern regions
According to the Ukrainian command, more than 70 enemy attacks were repelled last day, mainly in the Kharkov, Lugansk and Donetsk regions, in the east of the country.
“In the Kreminna sector three Russian companies launched a powerful attack, but were repulsed. Of the three companies only two returned to their positions. The Russians left 70 dead and many others wounded,” the head of the military administration of the Lugansk region, Serhiy Hayday, said today.
Speaking to Ukrainian television, Hayday described the situation in the region as “difficult but controllable.”
Bakhmut, in the spotlight
Russian troops do not give up in their attempts to capture the city of Bakhmut, an important communications hub in the Donetsk region, whose surroundings have been the scene of fierce fighting for months.
“The enemy continues to try to break through the defenses and take Bakhmut. The commander-in-chief of the Eastern troop grouping, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, inspected the defense units of Bakhmut and its surroundings,” the Ukrainian Land Army reported on its Facebook page.
According to the statement, “the fighting is taking place in the surroundings and outskirts of the city.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that the defense of Bakhmut is “important, but not at any price” and that it will fight there “as long as it is reasonable” and a counteroffensive is being prepared.
Hence, it is not ruled out that the Ukrainian troops could withdraw to the west, towards a new defensive line, in case the threat of being surrounded looms over them.
This Saturday, the air raid alarms were activated throughout the territory of Ukraine twice, in the morning and in the afternoon, for 30 and 18 minutes respectively, without any reports of Russian attacks with missiles or drones.
Does Russia run out of Iranian drones?
A UK MoD intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine posted on Twitter today notes that Russia has likely exhausted its stocks of Iranian-made kamikaze drones and is looking to replenish them.
And he supports this supposition with the fact that since around February 15, there have been no reports of attacks with these types of drones.
According to the report, these drones do not have a good record of destroying targets, but possibly Russia sees them as a decoy to distract Ukrainian air defense from Russian cruise missiles, which are much more effective.
Attacks without advances on the ground
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, indicated that the attacks by the Russian forces covered a wide geography of the eastern Ukrainian regions, but did not report concrete progress on the ground or communicate the number of their own casualties.
The last official figure that Russia gave on the number of soldiers killed in Ukraine was in September last year, seven months after the start of military operations.
Then, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, reported 5,937 deaths in the Russian ranks.
According to the count of the independent media Mediazona and the Russian service of the British television channel BBC, more than 15,000 Russian soldiers died in Ukraine in the last twelve months, more than those officially recognized by Moscow in the almost ten-year war in Afghanistan. .
