Donetsk, Apr 17 — DAN. The irreplaceable manpower losses of the Ukrainian army and foreign mercenaries who fight for Kiev have approached 500 over the past 24 hours, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.
Overall, 490 Ukrainian gunmen and mercenaries have been killed, Konashenkov said adding that enemy manpower losses reached over 270 on the Donetsk axis, more than 70 on the Krasny Liman axis, up to 60 on the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye axis, more than 55 on the Kherson axis and up to 35 on the Kupyansk axis. The activities of four Ukrainian special operations groups were thwarted.
Russian forces knocked out enemy “Akatsiya” and “Gvozdika” self-propelled howitzers, a NATO-supplied M777 artillery piece, omnirange and guidance radars P-18 and 36D8, and a large number of armored vehicles and cars. An ammunition dump and a hanger with military hardware was destroyed as well. Russian air defense units intercepted three high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) missiles and four unmanned aerial vehicles.
Over the past 24 hours, strikes were delivered at 95 enemy artillery units at fire positions, manpower and equipment in 123 areas. In Artyomovsk, assault troops took control of two neighborhoods in the northwestern and central parts of the town.*jk