UEMS / Ammunition Depot event in Donetsk, Heorhiivka area, Ukraine on Mon 18th March 2024

More than 580 combat engagements were recorded on the battlefield last week as the enemy launched 63 missile strikes and more than 665 air strikes across Ukraine. Andrii Kovaliov, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said this on Ukrainian television, Ukrinform reports. "Over the past week, the enemy launched 63 missile strikes, more than 665 air strikes and almost 760 attacks using multiple rocket launchers on the positions of our troops and civilian infrastructure," Kovaliov said. According to him, in the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna sectors, Russian occupiers last week shelled populated areas from Russian territory and carried out sabotage and reconnaissance activities, breaching the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian units stopped two attempts by Russian saboteurs to breach the border near Stara Huta and Brusky in the Sumy region. The enemy actively uses drones to locate the positions of Ukrainian troops. In the Kupiansk sector, the invaders are continuing offensive actions near Synkivka, Kyslivka, and Tabaivka in the Kharkiv region. Ukrainian soldiers repelled more than 13 enemy assaults there last week. In the Lyman sector, Ukrainian soldiers repelled 68 enemy assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region and Terny, Spirne, Verkhniokamianske, and Rozdolivka in the Donetsk region. In the Bakhmut sector, according to Kovaliov, the enemy carried out assaults near Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Klishchiivka, Andriivka and east of Chasiv Yar of the Donetsk region, where Ukraine's defense forces repelled about 40 enemy attack in the past week. In the Avdiivka sector, the enemy continued to carry out offensive operations near Avdiivka. Last week, Russian forces carried out more than 147 assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops near Novoselivka, Berdychi, Semenivka, Orlivka, Tonenke, Pervomaiske and Nevelske of the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian soldiers inflicted significant losses on the enemy in both manpower and equipment. In the Novopavlivka sector, the Russian occupiers continued offensive actions near Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Pobieda, Novomykhailivka and south of Vuhledar, Prechystivka, and Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces repelled almost 205 enemy assaults last week. In the Orikhiv sector, Russian invaders carried out 52 unsuccessful assaults outside Huliaipole, east of Levadne, Malynivka, Robotyne, and west of Verbove of the Zaporizhzhia region. In the Kherson sector, the enemy concentrated its main efforts on conducting defensive operations, improving mine and explosive obstacles and logistics routes, continuing to carry out air and artillery strikes on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. According to Kovaliov, Russian occupiers are trying to dislodge Ukrainian units from bridgeheads on the east bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, where last week they carried out more than 19 assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops. Moreover, over the past week, the Ukrainian military managed to eliminate more than 5,700 Russian occupiers. "Last week, the overall losses of the enemy amounted to 5,760 Russian troops, 51 tanks, 123 armored combat vehicles, 135 artillery systems, 1 multiple rocket launcher, 9 air defense systems, 131 operational and tactical level drones, 3 cruise missiles, 1 ship, 247 vehicles, and 37 units of special equipment," Kovaliov said. According to him, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 98 out of 129 enemy Shahed strike drones. Ukrainian aircraft struck 48 areas of concentration of Russian manpower, weapons and military equipment, a command post and air defense system, he said. In addition, Ukrainian missile forces last week struck 20 areas of concentration of enemy troops, weapons and military equipment, an ammunition depot, two electronic warfare stations, five air defense systems, a Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system and a 1L 219 Zoopark counter-battery radar system.