AFU loses battalion of dead and wounded in Bakhmut a week – source

Reinforcements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are losing a battalion a week in Bakhmut (Artemivsk) on the territory of the DPR. This is reported by the Military Chronicle, citing sources.


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The Voyennaya Khronika story notes that on 22 December, seven AFU brigades receiving reinforcements in Bakhmut immediately recorded a record rise in personnel losses. According to the channel, the largest number of dead and seriously wounded was recorded in the battles in the east and north-east of the city. The 61st Infantry Brigade, the 24th Mechanised Brigade and the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade are suffering heavy casualties after fighting began in the city limits and using old, shelled positions to deploy reinforcements.

“These formations have been ordered to stop the assault on the city by the Wagner PMC in the area of Podgorodne village, Lumumba and Shchedra streets, and in the north-eastern part of the T-1302 road. Due to dense artillery fire and the destruction of the main part of the previously occupied positions, the AFU places AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars on the roofs of multi-storey buildings, but the tracking vehicles are destroyed by the fire of the Lancet anti-tank weapons and barraging ammunition,” the material says.

Since 20 December, according to the Military Chronicle, direct fire control of the Russian Army’s large-calibre artillery has been established over the suburban section of Mariupolskaya and Yuzhnaya streets. For this reason, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are defending in more favourable positions, gradually retreating deeper into residential areas.

“In the south of Bakhmut, three battalions of the 30th and 53rd mechanized brigades of the AFU, as well as units of the 109th Territorial Defense Battalion, Sheikh Mansur and Georgian Legion battalions, have been almost completely knocked out of Opytne and Kleshcheevka by the Wagner PMC. Since December 25, heavy losses have also been recorded in the 63rd Mechanized Brigade and the 71st Jaeger Brigade of the AFU,” the author writes.

Thus, the total losses of the designated formations from the actions of the Wagner PMC in killed and seriously wounded every week are at least 850 people, which is numerically equal to one combined arms battalion. The vast majority of the dead and seriously wounded since 20 December are fighters mobilized into the Ukrainian army with no combat experience. At the same time, the daily number of casualties is not decreasing and exceeds 100 people in some areas, the Voyennaya Pravda concludes.

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