Russian defense chiefs have claimed their troops have destroyed an entire battery of Ukrainian D-20 howitzers positioned in a field.
Zenger News obtained the images and a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) on April 12 and they said that the Ukrainian position was destroyed with the help of drones (UAVs).
The Russian military claimed that it had destroyed the Ukrainian unit’s D-20 howitzers and ammunition.
The footage, though, is so tightly edited that it is almost impossible to see what the Russian drones are bombing.
In the drone footage, a flurry of airstrikes is seen raining onto the open field, apparently aimed at the row of military howitzers.
Meanwhile, in east-central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Ukrainian military said it had pushed back the enemy’s lines and regained control over 15 settlements.
Defending forces also launched a counter-offensive in occupied Novoaidar and Luhansk, destroying more than 50 tons of ammunition and 40 units of Russian equipment, according to the Ukrainian military.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 49th day of the war.
From February 24 to April 13, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at about 19,800 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 739 tanks, 1,964 armored fighting vehicles, 358 artillery systems, 115 multiple launch rocket systems, 64 anti-aircraft warfare systems, 158 aircraft, 143 helicopters, 1,429 motor vehicles, seven boats/cutters, 76 fuel tankers, 132 unmanned aerial vehicles, 25 special equipment units and four mobile SRBM systems.
Meanwhile, Moscow is claiming that 1,026 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in the besieged city of Mariupol.
However, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the strategic port city, located in south-eastern Ukraine, is still holding out.
The Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, has said that approximately 21,000 civilians are currently estimated to have been killed in Mariupol since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden has called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a “dictator” and has accused him of “genocide” in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has praised his American counterpart’s comments as the “true words of a true leader”.
The presidents of Poland, Latvia and Estonia are en route to the Ukrainian capital to meet Zelenskyy.
However, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been told he is “not wanted” due to recent “close ties” to Russia.
Ukraine and Russia are now concentrating their forces in the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, after Moscow withdrew troops from north of Kyiv.
