Russia Loses 27 Artillery Systems, 12 APVs and 6 Tanks in a Day: Ukraine

Ukraine’s military destroyed or captured 27 Russian artillery systems, 12 armoured personnel vehicles (APVs) and six tanks on Friday, according to the country’s general staff.

The claims were made on social media as part of a daily update released on Saturday.

Over the past few days, Ukrainian forces have made gains around the embattled Donbas city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has spent the past few months trying to seize. Kyiv is expected to launch a major counter-offensive in the coming months, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he needs “a bit more time” for the necessary equipment to arrive.

The latest Ukrainian military report claims 590 Russian personnel were “liquidated,” on Friday, bringing its estimated total of enemy fatalities since the invasion began to 198,260.

Since Putin’s “special military operation” was launched in February 2022, Kyiv says it has destroyed 3,751 Russian tanks and 7,307 APVs.

Ukraine also claimed it took out 29 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), and two anti-aircraft missile systems on Friday.

Saturday’s report concluded: “Punch the Occupier! Together we will win! Our power is in the truth!”

Newsweek has not been able to independently verify Ukraine’s figures on Russian losses, and Moscow doesn’t release its own casualty data for comparison. The Russian Ministry of Defense has been contacted for comment.

British defence intelligence also released a military update on Saturday claiming Ukrainian troops had “regained at least a kilometre of territory” over the past four days.

The UK claimed Russia’s 72^nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade “likely withdrew in bad order” from south of Bakhmut, following the Ukrainian attack, with the unit “dogged with allegations of poor moral and limited combat effectiveness.”

On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the pro-Moscow mercenary group Wagner, claimed Russian soldiers “simply fled from the flanks” around Bakhmut.

He said Russia had lost ground it spent months capturing, commenting: “The entire operation from the west to Bakhmut lasted from 8 October [2022], seven months. During this time, we took, in particular, the Berkhivka Reservoir, the settlement of Berkhivka and moved along the Bakhmut-Slavinsk road in the direction of Slavinsk. Now the reverse process is happening.”

Wagner, which has recruited heavily from Russian prisons, is heavily engaged in Bakhmut itself, with Prigozhin insisting the devastated city “will be taken.”

Earlier this week the UK announced it has provided Ukraine with storm shadow cruise missiles, which can hit targets up to 155 miles away, meaning all of Russian-occupied Ukraine is within their field of fire.

British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said the weapons would help give the Ukrainians the “best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality.”