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Russia’s defense ministry is claiming its army has made a significant advance on the Ukrainian front, occupying the village of Voznesenka in Donetsk, reports Magyar Nemzet citing Hungarian national news agency MTI.
Russian forces have advanced on four fronts, repelling 15 Ukrainian counterattacks and causing significant military losses to the Ukrainian side, the report additionally stated.
Moscow claims that in just the last day more than 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or seriously wounded in this “special operation” zone.
Vitaly Ganchev, the Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast, told RIA Novosti that Russian forces are digging in on the outskirts of Kupyansk. He says the Russian offensive will continue to the northeast and southeast of the city, so a “quite large” Ukrainian group may find itself in a semi-surrounded situation.
Speaking to the same news agency, Vladimir Rogov, co-chairman of the Integration Coordination Council of the New Regions, announced the occupation of 12 square kilometers of territory, stating that the Russian army had “straightened” the front line between Novodorivka and Rivnopil in Zaporizhia Oblast and was pushing further west.
Among the military targets and military equipment destroyed or hit in Ukraine during the past day, the Russian Ministry of Defense listed: the infrastructure of several military airports as well as an energy facility serving the Ukrainian military, five ammunition depots, four tanks, 16 other armored combat vehicles, two Western-made 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzers, six U.S: HIMARS missiles, and 78 aircraft-type drones.
In the direction of Kursk, meanwhile, the Ukrainian side reportedly lost, among other things, 10 tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, and 19 other armored fighting vehicles.
Moscow further claims that since Aug. 6, when Ukrainian forces invaded the region, Ukraine has lost 32,580 soldiers, 212 tanks, 136 infantry fighting vehicles, 112 armored personnel carriers, 1,165 armored fighting vehicles, 940 vehicles, 281 artillery pieces, and 40 serial launchers.
On Thursday, local authorities also reported Ukrainian artillery and drone attacks on the settlements of the Ukrainian territories that came under Russian control and the Russian regions bordering Ukraine. Ten civilians were injured by Ukrainian artillery strikes in downtown Horlivka in the “Donetsk People’s Republic.” In various settlements in the Luhansk region, one civilian was killed and three were injured.
The Russian Investigative Committee (SZK) announced on Thursday that its experts estimate the damage caused by the Ukrainian army in the Russian regions of Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Moscow, Ryazan, and Volgograd at 60 billion rubles (about 230 billion forints at the current exchange rate). During the survey, more than 25,000 buildings and infrastructure facilities were examined.
The SZK has also brought charges against some 800 foreign “mercenaries” who fought on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces. The investigation in the criminal case of 70 defendants – Georgian, Latvian, Lithuanian, French, American, Moldovan and Swedish citizens – has been completed, with Russian courts so far convicting more than 30 mercenaries.
The Federal Security Service has also said that it has detained a 21-year-old Russian citizen who passed along data on a military-industrial company operating in the Central Federal District, where Moscow is located, to Ukrainian military intelligence.
