Ukrainian defenders have “destroyed” nearly 4,000 Russian soldiers since March 27, First Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Pavliuk reported on an official Telegram channel on Sunday.
According to Pavliuk, in the last week of its all-out war against Ukraine, Russia also lost 224 pieces of various weapons and military equipment, including one plane, 33 drones, 23 tanks, 56 artillery systems, and 39 armored fighting vehicles.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported earlier that Russia has lost a total of 174,550 soldiers since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Colonel Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army defending southern Donetsk Oblast, said the Ukrainian army had pushed Russian troops back from “various positions” in the direction of Donetsk.
Ukrainian forces “are now busy equipping these positions for defensive combat operations,” Dmytrashkivskyi said on national television.
They even released a video showing Ukrainian marines hitting several vehicles in a Russian armored column using US-made Javelin missiles.
Earlier, on April 1, the General Staff said that Russian forces had concentrated their efforts on offensives towards Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast.
This report comes on the same day that well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion at a cafe in Saint Petersburg.
Russian news agencies quoted the Interior Ministry confirming Tatarsky’s death and saying 16 people were injured at the Street Bar cafe.
A video showed the moment in which a supposed bomb exploded in said cafeteria.
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