Russia has said that its paratroopers have taken out Ukrainian troops in a forest battle.
The images purport to show Russian soldiers firing on unseen Ukrainian positions with assault rifles, rocket launchers, and other ordnance including artillery.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Friday, 10th March, along with a statement claiming: “Parachute units of the Ivanovo paratroopers destroyed combat groups of Ukrainian formations moving near positions defended by Russian units.
“In a forest area, near the positions of Russian paratroopers, information was received from an observation post that a group of armed Ukrainian military was approaching the location of our units.
“It was decided to destroy the enemy with grenade launchers and small arms. As a result of the fire damage inflicted, the enemy abandoned his intentions and hastily retreated, while losing several people killed and wounded.
“Such attacks by Ukrainian units are daily recorded and suppressed along the entire line of combat contact between the units of the Russian Airborne Forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“In addition, observation posts of Ukrainian formations were opened in the immediate vicinity of our positions, and several of them were destroyed by fire from large-calibre automatic weapons, including from 57-mm S-60 anti-aircraft artillery systems mounted on Ural-4320 vehicles”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 380th day of the full-scale war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 10th March 2023, Russia had lost about 156,990 personnel, 3,448 tanks, 6,742 armoured combat vehicles, 2,475 artillery units, 491 multiple launch rocket systems, 256 air defence systems, 304 warplanes, 289 helicopters, 2,107 drones, 907 cruise missiles, 18 warships, 5,337 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 240 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
At least nine people were reportedly killed yesterday in Russia’s largest wave of missile strikes in three weeks.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 81 missiles in total and eight Shahed drones. It said that it had shot down 34 missiles and four drones.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has warned that urgent action is required to protect the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The facility was briefly disconnected from the grid as a result of Russian missile strikes grew.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said that the “massive retaliatory strike” was payback for a cross-border raid last week.
Grossi said: “Due to a series of attacks there had been a complete cut of the off-site power lines thereby [leaving] the plant without any source for its cooling systems, which are essential for the safety of the reactors.
“Hence the emergency generators kicked in – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe for the sixth time since the beginning of the war has been working on emergency diesel generators, which has been absolutely mindboggling.”
He added: “This proves again how fragile and terribly dangerous this situation is at Zaporozhzhia.
“The danger as I’ve been saying would be the reactors eventually when you stop having a cooling function, you eventually melt down thus leading to a major accident with severe radiological effects…
“Here we’re talking about six nuclear power reactors – the biggest site in Europe – so you can see how enormously incredible the situation is.”
Grossi also said: “Don’t shoot at a nuclear power plant.”
Ukraine appears intent on holding the eastern city of Bakhmut despite reportedly suffering an estimated 100 to 200 casualties every day.
Ukraine’s national security chief, Oleksiy Danilov, has said that one Ukrainian is killed for every seven Russians, adding that Ukrainian soldiers are killing as many as 1,100 of Moscow’s soldiers every day.
The President of Belarus, the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, has signed a bill that introduces capital punishment for government officials and members of the military who are convicted of high treason.
