The fiercest fighting on the front in Ukraine is taking place in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces continue to attack most intensively in the directions towards Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka. The Ukrainian General Staff reports a total of 304 combat clashes in a day. The most numerous are Russian attacks near Pokrovsk - 60, followed by 27 in the Kostyantynivka direction.
The Ukrainian side also reports 22 Russian attacks in the South Slabozhansk direction, 20 near Hulyaipole and eight attempts to break through to Liman. Near Kupyansk, Russian units made three attempts to improve their tactical positions, and in the Slavyansk and Kramatorsk directions, two and three Russian assaults were recorded, respectively. According to Kiev, Russian forces carried out 83 air strikes, used 271 guided bombs and launched more than 7,000 attack drones during the same period.
Ukraine reports local successes
Against this background, Kiev claims to have achieved limited progress in the eastern part of the country. Ukraine's Third Army Corps reports that within the framework of Operation “Vivaldi“ it has regained a total of 275 square kilometers and 16 settlements since August. According to the data presented, the last phase of the operation has added about 100 square kilometers.
The operation is aimed at countering Russian attempts to advance towards Liman and Dobropilya. Kiev says the actions have forced the Russian command to shift units from other parts of the front. The US Institute for the Study of War reports a drop in the average daily number of Russian attacks in the direction of Slavyansk - from about 14 in August to three in October, and in the direction of Kramatorsk - to less than one per day.
“We are stopping all attempts by the enemy to advance or penetrate“, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.These statements do not mean a strategic breakthrough. Positions along the 1,250-kilometer front have changed little, and Russian forces continue to maintain pressure in the Pokrovskoye, Kostyantynivskoye and southern directions. Russia has reported the capture of Novovodyansk in Donetsk region and Ulanovo in Sumy region, but these claims have not been independently confirmed.
What are the casualties
The Ukrainian General Staff says Russian losses since the start of the full-scale war have reached around 1.56 million servicemen. The figure includes killed and wounded and is not an independent estimate. Ukraine also reports that Russian losses in September alone were over 46,000 - the highest monthly toll of the year according to Kiev.
British Defence Chief Richard Knighton gives a similar overall estimate - around 1.5 million Russians killed and wounded, with over 500,000 of them dead. He says the larger Russian army is struggling to make significant progress on the battlefield. Russia has not provided a comparable up-to-date estimate of its own losses, and Moscow and Kiev do not regularly publish independent figures on the number of dead and wounded from their armies. Ukrainian losses also cannot be reliably determined from public figures.
Sources: apnews.com, pravda.com.ua, aljazeera.com