Фото: Министерство обороны РФ
Russian forces have repelled nine Kiev army attacks on the Kupyansk and Krasny Liman axes, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.   “On the Kupyansk axis, Task Force “West” units, aircraft and artillery repelled six attacks by the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 32nd Mechanized Brigades and 95th Air Assault Brigade in the areas of Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Olshana and Sinkovka in the Kharkov region,” the report said.   Enemy losses amounted up to 100 servicemen, two armored fighting vehicles, three pickups, one US-made M777 artillery piece, one Polish-made “Krab” self-propelled howitzer, one “Gvozdika” self-propelled howitzer, two Slovak Zuzana-2 wheeled self-propelled howitzers, one D-20 artillery piece and one US-made AN/TPQ-50 counterfire radar.   On the Krasny Liman axis, Task Force “Center” units, aircraft and artillery repelled three attacks by assault teams of Ukraine’s 68th Infantry Brigade and 42th Mechanized Brigade in the areas of Novoyegorovka and Kuzmino in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Vesyoloye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Ukrainian army lost up to 80 servicemen, three armored fighting vehicles, two pickups and one D-30 howitzer.   Air defense units intercepted four French SCALPO-EG long-range cruise missiles and two “Uragan” multiple rocket launcher projectiles over the past 24 hours. “Over the past 24 hours, 25 Ukrainian drones were destroyed in the areas of Lisichansk and Svatovo in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Volnovakha, Gorlovka and Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Tokmak in the Zaporozhye region,” the Defense Ministry said.   ***   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. *i*ie