Russian forces have reduced the number of airstrikes against Ukraine but intensified infantry activity on the southeastern front line, General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria Group, reported on Dec. 3.
He said 55 skirmishes between Ukrainian and Russian were forces recorded on the southeastern front lines over the past day.
Russia has lost 440 troops and nine pieces of military hardware, while around 10 Russian soldiers surrendered in the area over the past day. He didn’t specify whether Russian troops were killed or wounded in action, or both.
Meanwhile, the commander said that Russian combat aircraft activity is low in the area. The Ukrainian military recorded five airstrikes in the area over the past day, with several KAB-guided bombs striking undisclosed locations in Donetsk Oblast.
Ukrainian forces are holding defense lines in the Avdiivka and Mariinka axes while conducting an offensive toward Melitopol.
Tarnavskyi reported repelling 25 Russian attacks in the Avdiivka axis, 11 more near Mariinka, three Russian assaults near Vuhledar and Shakhtarsk directions, and 12 attacks near Robotyne and Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
The attacks on Avdiivka, the gateway to occupied Donetsk, a major city in the Donbas, have been very costly for Moscow.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces have lost around 10,000 soldiers, more than 100 tanks, over 250 other armored vehicles, and seven Su-25 aircraft in the month of fighting near the front-line town.
Russia has been trying to capture the small town just north of occupied Donetsk since 2014.
Anastasiia Malenko
(Updated: )
