Russia Losses: Soldiers Killed in Staged “Terrorist Attack” – Referendums the Reason?
Created: 09/23/2022, 04:59 am
By: Helena Gries, Teresa Toth, Karolin Schäfer, Moritz Serif, Tim Vincent Dicke, Nadja Austel, Nail Akkoyun, Lucas Maier, Christian Stör
Ukraine's counteroffensive continues: the Ministry of Defense has published new figures on Russian casualties.
The news ticker.
Editor's note:
You can read news about Russian losses in the Ukraine conflict in this news ticker.
Some of the information comes from warring factions in the Ukraine war and cannot be checked directly and independently.
+++ 17.55:
A Ukrainian National Guard shot down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter with a man-portable Igla air defense system (MANPADS) on the Zaporizhia front.
This was announced by the Ukrainian online newspaper
Ukrajinska Pravda
with reference to the press center of the Ukrainian National Guard.
Ukrainian soldiers stand atop a destroyed Russian tank in a recaptured territory near the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region.
© Leo Correa/dpa
+++ 2.50 p.m .:
Five Britons were able to return home after months in captivity by separatists loyal to the Kremlin in eastern Ukraine.
As reported by the
BBC
news channel , the men landed at London Heathrow Airport on Thursday.
"After this terrible ordeal," they are now looking forward to normality with their families, said Dominik Byrne of the organization "Presidium Network", which supports the relatives.
The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope
View photo gallery
Russia Losses: Soldiers Killed in Staged “Terrorist Attack” – Referendums the Reason?
+++ 12.55 p.m .:
According to Ukrainian information, several soldiers from Russia died in a Russian military action.
As reported by the
Kyiv Independent
, citing the mayor of the city of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov, Russian troops staged a "terrorist attack" in the center of the city.
The aim: to blame Ukraine for the attack in order to discredit the other side ahead of the planned referenda.
A vote is also planned in the Zaporizhia region, in which Melitopol is located.
According to the mayor, three Russian soldiers were killed in the explosion.
He did not provide information on civilian casualties.
News about the Ukraine war: The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense publishes Russian casualties
+++ 9.40 a.m .:
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has updated the statistics on Russia’s losses in the Ukraine war.
Accordingly, 55,510 soldiers fell - an overview.
also read
Putin's partial mobilization: Thousands of Russians will probably volunteer - 120,000 conscripts will be drafted
Children from Kharkiv go to the Russian summer camp - and never come back
Soldiers:
55,510
Aircraft:
253
Helicopters:
218
Tanks:
2236
Armored Fighting Vehicles:
4776
Artillery systems:
1341
Air defense systems:
169
Multiple rocket launcher systems:
318
Cars and other vehicles:
3630
Ships:
15
Unmanned Combat Drones:
941
As of Thursday 22 September 2022
The information on Russia's losses in the Ukraine war comes from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
They cannot be independently verified.
The Kremlin itself gives very little information about its own losses.
News on the Ukraine war: prisoner exchange with Russia
Update from Thursday, September 22, 6:40 a.m .:
On Thursday night (September 22nd), Ukraine and Russia carried out one of the largest prisoner exchanges in the war, which lasted almost seven months.
205 captured Ukrainians were released, according to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak.
These included defenders of Mariupol, who had resisted the Russian conquerors entrenched in the Azovstal steelworks until mid-May.
According to Yermak, Ukraine released 55 Russian soldiers who had been captured during the offensive in the Kharkov region in early September.
The arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, was also allowed to leave the country.
News about the Ukraine war: Ukrainian air force destroys ammunition depots, bases and bridges
+++ 10:05 p.m .:
On the 210th day of the Ukraine war, according to a statement from the General Staff, Ukrainian troops repelled attacks on five settlements in eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the Ukrainian Air Force reports 32 attacks in which 17 military bases, an ammunition depot and ten air defense system sites were destroyed.
In addition, several checkpoints and pontoon bridges were hit.
Partial mobilization in Russia leads to mass exodus: flights fully booked for days
+++ 6.50 p.m .:
After the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia, more and more conscripts are trying to leave the country so as not to have to fight in Ukraine.
As the news portal
Ukrainska Pravda
reports, citing a Russian news agency, all flights to visa-free countries, including Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, will be sold out on the websites of Russian airlines in the next few days.
According to the report by the
RBK
news agency , direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul can only be booked again on Friday (September 23), the cheapest ticket costs around 76,000 rubles (approx. 1255 euros).
According to research by
Ukrainska Pravda
on the website of the Russian airline Aeroflot, flights cost at least 930 euros on Wednesday afternoon and were not available again until Sunday (September 25).
Flight tickets were only available for Saturday on the Turkish Airlines website: for the equivalent of over 1340 euros.
Losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Kyiv attributes partial mobilization to a lack of personnel
+++ 1:40 p.m .:
Vladimir Putin has ordered immediate partial mobilization in Russia.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych interpreted the step as meaning that the high losses are forcing Russia to take this measure.
"There are more than 100,000 killed and wounded, closer to 150,000," wrote Arestovych.
The next 150,000 have already been mentally written off.
"How good it is to be Russian under Putin," he wrote wryly.
Moscow had previously presented figures on its own army's losses in the Ukraine war for the first time since the end of March.
According to this, Russia has so far had to mourn 5937 dead military personnel.
However, independent observers consider the real losses to be many times higher than stated.
The Ukrainian general staff speaks of more than 55,000 fallen Russian soldiers (see update from 9:05 a.m.).
Ukraine War News: Ukraine defeats 151 Russian troops
Update from Wednesday, September 21, 7:40 a.m.:
The Ukrainian military claims to have defeated 151 Russian troops in southern Ukraine on September 20.
This is reported
by The Kyiv Independent
.
According to the Ukrainian task force “South”, Ukrainian forces also destroyed seven tanks, 19 armored and military vehicles, four Msta-S and Msta-B howitzers and other equipment.
News about the Ukraine war: military jet and kamikaze drone shot down
+++ 8.50 p.m .:
Early on Tuesday evening, soldiers of the Ukrainian Air Force in the Cherson region fended off an attack by a Russian aircraft and instead shot down the Su-25 attack jet.
This is reported by the
Ukrainska Pravda
news portal , which cites information shared by the military leadership of the Ukrainian Air Force on Facebook.
Shortly before, soldiers in the Mykolaiv region shot down an Iranian-made kamikaze drone.
+++ 3.45 p.m .:
Russia suffers immense losses in the Ukraine war.
That is why Moscow is apparently emptying important air defense bases in order to supply the armed forces in Ukraine with weapons.
This emerges from satellite images, as reported by the Finnish news agency
Yleisradio Oy
.
According to this, Russia is moving anti-aircraft missiles from St. Petersburg towards Ukraine.
News about the Ukraine war: Russia's military resorts to old weapons - military ship sunk
The equipment is therefore largely the S-300 air defense system.
The guided missiles date from the 1970s and have a shorter range than newer missiles.
However, Russia has reportedly upgraded Soviet-era equipment with GPS technology, allowing them to attack more specific targets.
Update from Tuesday, September 20, 7:05 a.m .:
Ukrainian forces are said to have sunk a Russian military ship on the Dnipro River in the Kherson Oblast.
This was reported by the Southern Operations Command of Ukraine on September 19 on Facebook.
The Ukrainian military reportedly sank a Russian barge laden with military personnel, equipment and weapons as it attempted to cross the Dnipro near Nova Kakhovka and Kozatske.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that the Ukrainian military's counteroffensive is undermining the already low morale among Russian troops.
According to a report by Ukrajinska Pravda
, this is causing panic among Kremlin deputies and decision-makers .
News on the Ukraine war: Occupied settlement in Luhansk liberated - Heavy fighting expected
+++ 9.30 p.m .:
The liberation of regions in Ukraine occupied by Russia is progressing.
According to Ukrainian sources, the town of Bilohorivka in the east of the country has been recaptured.
However, the liberation in the Luhansk region was more difficult than in Kharkiv due to the large number of Russian armed forces, said the region's governor, Serhiy Hajdaj.
"This element of surprise will no longer be there," Hajdaj said in an interview with Ukrainian radio station
NV
.
“Those who fled from the direction of Kharkiv are in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.” Fierce fighting is now taking place there.
Losses for Russia: Russian troops surrounded
First report from Monday, September 19:
Russian troops are surrounded in southern Ukraine between the Ukrainian army and the banks of the Dnipro River.
"The fire control that we maintain over the crossings and transport routes across the Dnipro River makes them realize that they are caught between Ukrainian forces and the right bank of the river - namely the units stationed in that part of the Kherson Oblast," Nataliia Humeniuk said , spokeswoman for the Southern Task Force, in a Ukrainian news program.
The occupiers were offered to lay down their arms and surrender.
"Therefore, they were offered an interim solution under the auspices of international humanitarian law or a return to their homes," Humeniuk said.
According to the spokeswoman, Ukraine is aware that some Russian soldiers lack morale and see no point in serving at the front.
"They see the example of the Eastern Front and it is very discouraging for them because they understand that such a course is also possible," Humeniuk said.
In recent weeks and months, the Antonivka Bridge, which connects the river banks, has been repeatedly shelled by the Russian army.
Russia used the bridge to transport essential goods such as ammunition, fuel, and food.
(with agencies)
