Russian military suffered 4,000 casualties in fight for Avdiivka, Ukraine

Russian forces fighting for control of an embattled city in eastern Ukraine have likely sustained some of their worst casualty rates this year — with estimated losses of at least 4,000 troops.

In a Saturday call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Ukraine Defense Minister Rustem Umerov revealed the staggering death tally in Avdiivka, according to a Telegram post by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said Moscow had deployed eight brigades in its campaign for Avdiivka, home to a sprawling coke plant and roughly 16 miles from the Russian-occupied Donetsk, but those forces have “likely suffered some of Russia’s highest casualty rates of 2023 so far.” 

The Ukrainian General Staff said in its Saturday battlefield report that Russian forces were continuing to try and encircle Avdiivka, but Kyiv had continued to repel the Moscow troops.  

“The Ukrainian soldiers are standing their ground, inflicting major losses on the enemy,” it wrote.

Russia launched its assault on the embattled Donetsk oblast city in mid-October, slamming Ukrainian forces with repeated artillery assaults along with a barrage of attacks by troops and armored vehicles, according to local and military authorities in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Zelesnky boasted Friday that in Russia’s offensive push for Avdiivka, Moscow lost “at least a brigade,” which varies in size but can be as many as 8,000 troops.  

“The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses,”  Zelesnky said. 

Russia’s concentrated assault on Avdiivka has come nearly five months after Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in the south and eastern territories currently held by Moscow.

The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, said Thursday that Moscow’s forces have sustained severe losses in equipment in their campaign for control of Avdiivka, which “will likely undermine Russian offensive capabilities over the long term.”

The Biden administration said this week that Russian military leaders were executing soldiers who refused to follow orders and threatening to kill entire units if they tried to retreat from the battlefield in Ukraine.

With Post wires