Andrei Oreshkin, a volunteer who searches for remains of Russian soldiers, at the Rossoshka burial site
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Around 620 Russian soldiers died Wednesday, pushing their death toll in the war to 183,750
  • Russia lost four tanks, 12 APVs, 23 UAVs and 16 military vehicles
  • Ukraine said Russia launched a fresh wave of attacks using Iranian-made Shahed attack drones

Ukrainian forces continue to purge Russian troops on the battlefield as the war approaches its 14th month.

Russia lost 620 military personnel in Ukraine Wednesday, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The latest fatalities brought Russian forces' death toll to 183,750 since it invaded Ukraine more than a year ago.

Ukraine also destroyed several pieces of Russian military equipment in the last 24 hours, including four tanks, 12 armored personnel vehicles (APVs), nine artillery systems, 23 operational-tactical level unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and 16 military vehicles.

So far, the Russian military has lost 3,665 tanks, 7,110 APVs, 2,819 artillery systems, 2,376 UAVs, and 5,692 military vehicles in total on the battlefield, the Ukrainian military said.

In its latest situation update, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russia continues to pounce on the beleaguered country with new rounds of military strikes, including three missile and 37 air strikes Wednesday.

Russia attacked Ukrainian troop positions and civilian settlements with 12 Iranian-made Shahed-136 UAVs and 57 rocket strikes Wednesday, according to the update. Ukrainian forces successfully destroyed 10 of the attack drones, but the rest of the Russian attacks killed and injured civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure.

The Ukrainian military also accused Russia of using civilians in their temporarily-occupied territories as their human shields.

In the city of Skadovs'k in the Ukrainian region of Kherson, Russian forces ordered their collaborators to sign a commitment prohibiting them from traveling outside the district.

The so-called "authorities" installed by Russia in the village of Kabychivka in the Luhansk region were ordered to build a military hospital with 40 beds for wounded Russian soldiers.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian military doctors are expected to arrive at the new military hospital by the end of this week.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's top prosecutor revealed the extent of Russian atrocities throughout the war in a hearing called by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that nearly 80,000 cases of alleged Russian war crimes have been recorded in his country since the war began in February 2022.

The prosecutor general reported that 20 torture chambers were found, more than 60 people were raped and more than 1,000 civilians were tortured in the Kherson region alone.

"Such evil cannot let be," Kostin said.

When asked about the possible motives of the Russian troops in carrying out atrocities, Kostin suggested that Russia wants to "erase Ukraine and Ukrainians from the land."

"Maybe because they want to really kill all of us," Kostin added.

According to the latest update by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, at least 8,534 civilians have been killed and at least 14,370 have been injured in the Russian-led war against Ukraine.

Ukraine is preparing defence lines in case Bakhmut was to fall
AFP