Russian air defense units have shot down 22 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the special military operation zone including the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.   “Air defense units intercepted 24 projectiles fired by HIMARS, “Uragan” and “Olkha” multiple rocket launch systems,” the report said. “Twenty-two Ukrainian drones were destroyed in the areas of Donetsk, Verkhnetoretskoye and Gornyak  in the in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Verkhnekamenka, Kremennaya and Makeyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Ilchenkovo and Inzhenernoye in the Zaporozhye region and Sadovoye and Golaya Pristan in the Kherson region.”   On the Kupyansk axis, Task Force “West” aircraft and artillery delivered strikes at Ukrainian army units in the areas of Novomlynsk, Kulagovka, Kislovka and Pershotravnevoye in the Kharkov region and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic. “Enemy losses on this axis over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 50 servicemen, three armored fighting vehicles, two cars and one US-made Paladin self-propelled howitzer.   “On the Krasny Liman axis, Task Force “Center” warplanes, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems inflicted damage on enemy units in the areas of Ploshchanka, Karmazinovka, Chervonaya Dibrova and Kuzmino in the LPR and Yamplovka in the DPR. Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces lost more than 70 servicemen, two infantry fighting vehicles, five cars, one “Gvozdika” self-propelled howitzer and one D-20 howitzer,” the Defense Ministry said.   Two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were thwarted in the Serebryanka Forestry area and another three in the Novoselovskoye settlement area in the Lugansk People’s Republic.                                                                                                                   ***   The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  The peace talks failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.   President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation on February 24, 2022 to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance.   The Lugansk People’s Republic acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum. *i*ie