The country’s forces now “hold the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said
The Russian military is making advances at multiple locations along the frontline in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), according to a daily press briefing of the country’s Defense Ministry released on Friday.
Over the past 24 hours, Moscow’s troops have inflicted heavy casualties on the adversary, amounting to up to 795 servicemen. The DPR saw intense combat at multiple locations, with the troops “taking up better positions” near the village of Klescheevka, located to the southwest of the town of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut). The small village has been experiencing heavy combat for months, following the liberation of Artyomovsk early last year.
The Russian military reported destroying multiple pieces of military hardware, including assorted armored and soft vehicles, as well as several artillery pieces, including two US-made M777 towed howitzers. The military said it conducted multiple long-range attacks on Ukrainian ammunition stockpiles, troops, and hardware assembly points in more than 100 locations.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported making advances and “taking up better positions,” including in the vicinity of the DPR town of Liman. Liberated early into the ongoing conflict, the town fell back under Ukrainian control in late 2022.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu revealed fresh estimates on the casualties sustained by Ukrainian forces over the past month. All in all, Ukraine lost more than 23,000 troops in January, the minister claimed during a meeting with top Russian military commanders on Friday, stating his forces now “hold the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact.”
Over the past month, the Ukrainian military has also suffered heavy equipment losses, with over 3,000 heavy hardware pieces destroyed. The losses include multiple US-supplied Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, German-supplied Leopard main battle tanks and other hardware provided to Kiev by its Western sponsors, according to Shoigu.
