MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Russian forces have destroyed over 1,750 Ukrainian combat drones since the start of their special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.
"In all, the following targets have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation: 267 aircraft, 148 helicopters, 1,757 unmanned aerial vehicles, 366 surface-to-air missile systems, 4,340 tanks and other combat armored vehicles," the spokesman said.
The Russian Armed Forces have also destroyed 800 multiple launch rocket systems, 3,312 field artillery guns and mortars and 4,938 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of their special operation in Ukraine, the general added.
Russian combat aircraft, missile and artillery troops struck five Ukrainian army command posts in the past 24 hours in their special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
"Operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile and artillery troops continue striking military facilities on Ukrainian territory. In the past 24 hours, they struck five Ukrainian army command posts, including those of the 72nd mechanized brigade near Artyomovsk and the 46th air mobile brigade in the area of the settlement of Belaya Krinitsa in the Kherson Region, and also Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in 234 areas," the spokesman said.
Russia’s artillery strikes against the positions of the Ukrainian army’s 95th air assault brigade in the Donetsk People’s Republic eliminated over 250 militants, Konashenkov reported.
"As a result of the Russian forces’ concentrated artillery strikes against the combat positions of the Ukrainian army’s 95th air assault brigade in the area of the settlement of Mazanovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, over 250 nationalists were eliminated," the spokesman said.
Russian forces delivered strikes by ground-launched precision weapons, eliminating over 90 foreign mercenaries in Kharkov, Konashenkov reported.
"Ground-based precision weapons struck the temporary deployment site of foreign mercenaries in the city of Kharkov, killing over 90 militants," the spokesman said.
In the area of the settlement of Posad-Pokrovskoye in the Nikolayev Region, army aviation aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces delivered a strike against the temporary deployment site of the 1st battalion of the Ukrainian army’s 28th mechanized brigade, eliminating about 60 militants and eight special motor vehicles, the general added.
Russian combat aircraft delivered strikes against Ukrainian army positions near Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, eliminating over 60% of a battalion of Ukraine’s 56th motorized infantry brigade, Konashenkov reported.
The enemy is sustaining heavy losses, the general stressed.
"As a result of employing operational-tactical aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces near Avdeyevka, the 37th battalion of the Ukrainian army’s 56th motorized infantry brigade has completely lost its fighting capacity. The losses exceeded 60% of the personnel," the spokesman said, stressing that the remainder of the battalion had been withdrawn into the rear for its refitting by the military command of the Donetsk battlegroup.
The Russian Aerospace Forces also liquidated over 80 Ukrainian militants by strikes near the communities of Belaya Krinitsa and Velikoye Artakovo, Konashenkov reported.
"The strikes by precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces against the amassment of manpower and military hardware of the 18th battalion of the Ukrainian army’s 35th marine infantry brigade in the areas of Belaya Krinitsa and Velikoye Artakovo killed over 80 and wounded more than 50 nationalists," the general said.
Russian air defense systems destroyed ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Kharkov and Kherson Regions in the past 24 hours in the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, Russian air defense capabilities destroyed ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of Yegorovka, Staromlynovka and Novogrodovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Yakovenkovo, Lesnaya Stenka, Zelyony Gai and Kochubeyevka in the Kharkov Region, Bezymennoye, Charivnoye and Bruskinskoye in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.
The Russian air defense forces also shot down three Ukrainian rockets in the area of the settlements of Topolskoye and Suligovka in the Kharkov Region, the general added.