MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops lost up to 300 servicemen and 26 armored vehicles in the Kursk area over the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
A total of more than 4,400 enemy servicemen have been destroyed during the hostilities.
Fighters of the Akhmat special force are preparing to repel a strike by Ukrainian forces, which are now busy regrouping in the Kursk area, said Akhmat commander Major General Apty Alaudinov, who is also a deputy chief at the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces.
TASS has put together the key facts about the situation.
Progress of the operation to destroy Ukrainian formations
- Units of the battlegroup North, supported by army aviation and artillery fire, thwarted attempts by enemy assault groups to attack the settlements of Komarovka, Korenevo, Malaya Loknya and Russkaya Konopelka.
- Strikes were delivered on clusters of the enemy's manpower and equipment in the areas of Apanasovka, Borki, Vishnyovka, Kositsa, Nizhny Klin, Snagost, Sverdlikovo and Kazachya Loknya.
- Russian aviation struck assembly areas of personnel and military equipment of Ukrainian reserves in the areas of Belopolye, Boyaro-Lezhachi, Glukhov, Krasnopolye, Novye Virki, Pokrovka, Pisarevka, Mogritsa and Yunakovka in the Sumy Region.
Ukrainian losses
- Over the past day, the enemy lost up to 300 soldiers and 26 armored vehicles, including six tanks, three armored personnel carriers, 17 armored fighting vehicles, as well as two motor vehicles, four artillery units and 2 MLRS launchers.
- During the combat operations, Ukraine lost a total of more than 4,400 servicemen, 65 tanks, 27 infantry fighting vehicles, 53 armored personnel carriers, 316 armored fighting vehicles, 133 motor vehicles, 31 artillery units, five anti-aircraft missile systems, nine multiple launch rocket systems, including three HIMARS and one MLRS, six electronic warfare stations, four pieces of engineering equipment, including two obstacle clearing vehicles and one UR-77 mine-clearing unit.
The enemy’s regrouping
- Ukrainian units in the Kursk area have already been blocked and are being flushed out of populated areas, said Major General Apty Alaudinov, a deputy chief at the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces and commander of the Akhmat special force.
- According to the officer, Akhmat is preparing to repel Ukrainian units, which are now busy regrouping.
Elections delay
- The Russian Central Election Commission decided to postpone voting in the elections of lawmakers to local self-government councils in seven Kursk Region municipalities, which was scheduled to take place on the unified voting day in September.
- Voting was delayed in the Belovsky, Bolshesoldatsky, Glushkovsky, Korenevsky, Sudzhansky, Khomutovsky districts and the city of Lgov.
- According to Central Election Commission Deputy Chairman Nikolay Bulayev, there are no plans to delay the election of the head of the region at this time.
- The region established extraterritorial polling stations, said Tatyana Malakhova, chairwoman of the regional election commission.
- As a counterterrorism operation and a federal emergency situation are still in place in the region, she said security measures will be stepped up on the election day, and armor vests and helmets will be provided to election officials.
Aid to residents
- Kursk Region officials, in cooperation with the Science and Higher Education Ministry are working to make sure that some residents from areas near the border could enroll in higher learning institutions, according to Interim Governor Alexey Smirnov.
- Kursk officials will provide children under two years of age, who were temporarily evacuated from the region's border areas due to massive Ukrainian attacks, with free milk meals, Kursk Mayor Igor Kutsak said.