MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Almost 70% of the personnel of the 79th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces were eliminated in the fighting in the Krasnoarmeysk agglomeration, a Russian defense source told TASS.
"The 79th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces was deployed by to the Pokrovsk-Mirnograd (Krasnoarmeysk-Dimitrov - TASS) direction to plug the gaps in the defenses, when it was already clear to everyone that both localities would be taken by Russian soldiers under control. No more than 30% of the brigade's combat personnel remain, and they are now hastily trying to bring it up to strength," the source said.
It added that the brigade's soldiers had not received the order to retreat for a long time, which is why they found themselves surrounded by Russian troops. According to him, the Ukrainian paratroopers were encircled without ammunition, medicine, or food.
On the morning of December 27, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited one of the command posts of the Joint Group of Forces, where he was informed of the liberation of Dimitrov in the Donetsk People’s Republic.