According to Ukrainian data, 23,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. In addition, more than 1,000 Russian tanks and nearly 2,500 other military vehicles have already been destroyed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech on Saturday night. For its part, Russia said on Saturday that it had hit 17 military installations in Ukraine and killed at least 200 Ukrainian soldiers.
In addition, a command post, 23 armored vehicles and a warehouse in Ukraine where the missiles were stored were destroyed, the Russian military and Defense Ministry said. Actual military casualties on both sides are difficult to estimate. So far, Moscow has admitted more than 1,000 of its own casualties and estimates the number of Ukrainian fighters killed at more than 23,000.
In his speech, Zelenskyy again assumed that the Russian army was gathering “additional forces” for attacks in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Kharkiv region. He appealed to the Russian military: “Any Russian soldier can still save his life. It is better for you to survive in Russia than to die in our country.”
According to the UN agency, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday night that no Russian troop movement towards Ukraine had been observed for four days. On the other hand, “a large number of broken, wounded and dead equipment” will be brought back to Russia.
Zelenskyi reported that Ukraine is continuing negotiations to strengthen sanctions against Russia. A decision on restrictions on Russian oil imports is expected soon, he said. Ukraine wants to rebuild the destroyed runway at Odessa airport, the president said. According to local civil and military officials, the newly built runway was destroyed in a Russian missile attack.
According to the governor of the Odessa region, Maksym Marchenko, the Russian attack used a Bastion missile fired from Crimea. No one was injured in the attack.
Odessa Mayor Gennadey Trukhanov said on Facebook that it took 10 years to plan and build the new track. It officially opened last July and was supposed to bring tourists from all over the world to the port city. “But Odessa is not a city that gives in to difficulties. After our victory, we will definitely restore the track, and even more tourists will come to us.”
The CEO of Ukraine’s biggest energy provider, Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, has complained of massive damage to his country’s gas pipeline network by Russian troops. “Bombing destroys infrastructure every day, and we are constantly trying to repair it,” Vitrenko said in an interview with “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND), adding: “213,000 Ukrainian families are currently without gas.” There is massive damage to the gas network in major cities like Mariupol or Kharkiv, but also many lines destroyed in smaller cities and towns in eastern Ukraine. “People need gas for heating, for cooking and for hot water,” said Vitrenko.