Russian Federation (RF) units launched on Friday, April 22 another round of limited attacks in the Donbas sector, with major Kremlin forces either uncommitted or unable to join the battle.
Ukraine’s Army General Staff (AGS) in a 0600 situation report said RF units were attempting to push Ukrainian defenders from positions in and around the towns Popasna and Rubizhne, and the villages Zarechne and Novtoshkovske, with the apparent objective of advancing towards the regional center Severodonetsk.
Serhiy Haidai, Luhansk regional defense commander head, said in a statement Ukraine Armed Forces units repelled the RF at all attacks except at Rubizhne, where street fighting was in progress.
In the vicinity of the town Marynka, to the south, video images from the 54th Mech Brigade seemed to show an RF column with tanks and armored personnel carriers hit by multiple artillery salvos and turned back.
Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security Council, said in a late Thursday evening interview that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, the bulk of RF formations assembled in recent weeks for an offensive into the Donbas sector, have not been committed to battle.
The RF attack force at full strength would be equivalent to 25 battalion tactical groups (BTG), at full strength a force of some 15,000-18,000 men, and 600-750 tanks, but many units have suffered losses of 50 percent or more in March battles, Ukrainian intelligence reports have said.
A Monday statement from Ukraine’s Border Troops Command said that in the Kharkiv region, near the RF border, Ukrainian border troops called in strikes on an RF combat support headquarters, destroying three jamming and electronic warfare systems, and an air defense system. The type of weapon used by the UBTC was not stated.
The AGS estimated that in attacks on Thursday day through Friday night, RF forces in the Donbas sector lost up to 200 soldiers, five tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, one artillery system, and nine trucks. This was about half of the Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) kills claimed on Thursday.
UAF air defense forces, in contrast, had per UAF official account a relatively busy and successful Thursday, claiming one Su-34 fighter bomber, one Su-35 Flanker-E fighter jet, one Su-35 attack jet, two Mi-8 transport helicopters, one Kh-52 Alligator attack helicopter, and nine Orlan-10 drones.
Five of the claimed kills (the Su-35, the Kh-53, the Mi-8, and two Orlan-10s) were seemingly confirmed by video or images published by combat units, or placed by individuals on social media
