MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russia’s battlegroup South thwarted six attacks by Ukrainian assault groups in the Donetsk area over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
"In the Donetsk direction, battlegroup South units, with firepower and artillery support, repelled six attacks by assault groups from Ukraine’s 24th mechanized and 5th assault brigades as well as the 112nd territorial brigade in the vicinity of the villages of Kleshcheyevka and Kirovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic," it said.
"The enemy’s total losses in the direction reached up to 265 troops, two armored combat vehicles and three automobiles. Moreover, during counterbattery activities two self-propelled Acacia artillery guns, three Msta-B howitzers and a D-30 system were eliminated," it said.
The Russian forces also hit troops and equipment of Ukraine’s 30th mechanized, 79th and 95th air assault brigades near the settlements of Kurdyumovka, Maryinka, Krasnoye and Andreyevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the ministry added.
"In the south Donetsk direction, units of battlegroup East, supported by artillery and heavy flamethrowers, delivered firepower damage to the manpower and equipment of Ukraine’s 72nd Air Assault Brigade near Novomikhailovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The enemy sustained roughly 90 casualties and lost two pickup trucks," the ministry specified.
"In the Zaporozhye direction, the battlegroup, supported by artillery, struck manpower and equipment of Ukraine’s 33rd and 65th mechanized brigades near Rabotino in the Zaporozhye Region. The enemy sustained roughly 45 casualties and lost two automobiles in that direction in the past day," the ministry said.
"In the Krasny Liman direction, units of battlegroup Center repelled an attack of an assault team of Ukraine’s 44th Separate Rifle Battalion near Yampolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)," the ministry said. Ukraine lost "roughly 180 casualties and three automobiles and a French-made Caesar self-propelled howitzer."
In the Kupyansk direction, the West battlegroup, artillery and heavy flamethrowers repelled five attacks of assault groups of the 60th and 115th mechanized and 57th motorized rifle brigades near Sinkovka in Kharkov region. Ukraine lost 45 troops, a tank and two armored vehicles, the ministry said.
In the Kherson direction, Ukraine lost roughly 40 men killed and wounded as well as four automobiles, the ministry said.
The air defense intercepted three HIMARS rockets and destroyed 26 drones near Belogorovka and Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Gorlovka and Maryinka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Novaya Kakhovka and Tavriysk in Kherson region, the ministry said.
Russia’s armed forces destroyed rocket and artillery ammunition depots of two Ukrainian brigades in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
"Rocket and artillery ammunition depots belonging to Ukraine’s 37th Marine Brigade and 65th Mechanized Brigade near the settlements of Daryevka in the Kherson Region and Volnyansk in the Zaporozhye Region were destroyed," it said.
Operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of Russian battlegroups struck Ukrainian troops and military hardware in 128 areas, it added.
Overall, the Russian armed forces have destroyed 550 Ukrainian warplanes, 257 helicopters, 9,687 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 surface-to-air missile systems, 14,046 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,188 multiple rocket launchers, 7,329 field artillery guns and mortars and 16,288 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.