529 Russian Troops Killed Near Tavriya. Only One Taken Prisoner, AFU Says

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) claimed they killed 529 Russian troops in fighting near Tavriya in Zaporizhzhia over the past day, as well as destroying numerous tanks, vehicles and a missile system.

“The missile and artillery units of the Tavria Operational and Strategic Group of Troops have completed 1,256 fire missions over the past day,” the military said in a post on Facebook.

“The enemy’s total losses came to 529 soldiers. One occupier surrendered.”

According to the report, 36 pieces of military hardware were destroyed, including seven tanks, nine armored fighting vehicles, one artillery system, 11 unmanned aerial vehicles, one special equipment unit, and one Tor surface-to-air missile system, as well as one ammunition depot.

Elsewhere, Russian forces have continued their hugely costly and so far unsuccessful attempt to capture the town of Avdiivka.

Ukraine reported repelling more than 20 Russian assaults in the sector on Friday.

Western analysts reported Russian had made no confirmed gains.

The toll on Russian troops has been huge as they try to take Avdiivka – in a call with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this week, President Zelensky said Moscow had lost an entire brigade.

“Russia will continue to try to occupy the entire Donbas,” he said. “The invaders made several attempts to encircle Avdiivka, but our soldiers stopped them and pushed them back each time, inflicting painful losses.

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“In these attempts, the enemy lost at least a brigade.”

A military brigade can consist of anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers.

Zelensky’s claim has been backed up by the White House which on Thursday said Russian had lost “thousands” of troops, showing “no regard for the lives of its soldiers” and even executing those who refuse to fight.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, said: “We believe they have suffered thousands of casualties in their effort to conduct this offensive, some of them on the orders of their own leaders.

“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders. We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.”

Russian, Ukrainian and independent sources attest to particularly heavy Russian losses suffered in recent weeks, with a peak coinciding with Moscow’s launch of mass attacks by Russian tanks and infantry across the open and heavily mined ground near the city of Avdiivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

The real exception to mass anecdotal, official and third-party reports of what appears to be a nearly unprecedented Russian military casualty rate in October has been official announcements by the Kremlin and its senior members asserting everything is progressing well.