10 Percent Of Russia's 2023 Ukraine Armor Lost In Last 10 Days

10% of Russia's armor losses in 2023 have occurred in the past ten days, mostly around Avdiivka. 

The scale of these losses - and reports that Putin paid a visit to Russian army operational headquarters in Rostov last week, wishing his field commanders success by name - suggests that they are under pressure to deliver some sort of result he can claim as a win before the 2024 Russian election, to enhance his electoral margin and, perhaps, so he can then claim a victory and demand ceasefire negotiations that freeze the current front in place, before he is forced to sustain any more losses. JL 

Isabel Van Brugen reports in Newsweek:

One in 10 Russian equipment losses since summer occurred in the past 10 days, coinciding with intensifying clashes in the war-torn town of Avdiivka. Moscow's forces lost 201 pieces of equipment in the past 10 days, and 2,156 units of equipment. Russian forces continue to transfer personnel to the Avdiivka direction to support offensive efforts, despite heavy losses. Russia lost 42 tanks, 49 infantry fighting vehicles and 10 armored personnel carriers in the past 10 days. Since June 1, Russia has lost 401 tanks, 515 infantry fighting vehicles, and 56 armored personnel carriers.

One in 10 Russian equipment losses since Kyiv launched a counteroffensive in the summer occurred in the past 10 days, coinciding with intensifying clashes in the war-torn town of Avdiivka, according to analysis by an investigative outlet.

Moscow's forces lost 201 pieces of equipment in the past 10 days, and 2,156 units of equipment since Ukraine's counteroffensive began in early June, reported Agentstvo, a Russian investigative site launched in 2021, citing data from Dutch open-source intelligence defense analysis website Oryx.

 

Of those losses, Russia lost 42 tanks, 49 infantry fighting vehicles and 10 armored personnel carriers in the past 10 days. Since June 1, Russia has lost 401 tanks, 515 infantry fighting vehicles, and 56 armored personnel carriers.

Heavy clashes have been reported as Moscow attempts to seize the town of Avdiivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region. It has been the target of Russian aggression since 2014, when Putin illegally annexed the southern Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.

 

Moscow's forces, beginning on October 10, mounted their biggest offensive in months in an attempt to capture Avdiivka, pouring in thousands of troops, tanks and armored vehicles.

The push came more than four months into Ukraine's counteroffensive, which is aimed at recapturing the territory seized by Russian forces in President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On Sunday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said Kyiv repelled nearly 20 Russian attacks around Avdiivka.

 

Newsweek could not independently verify the figures from Oryx and has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Ukraine Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate, told the Espreso TV news outlet over the weekend that Avdiivka holds strategic significance.

"This is not the first instance the occupying forces have boosted tension with declarations of taking over all of Donetsk and Luhansk... Their plans have failed, the deadlines pushed back. This is just another episode of tension," said Yusov.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the situation in Avdiivka as "particularly tough."

"Every day, we need results for Ukraine, to withstand Russian assaults, to eliminate occupiers, to move forward," Zelensky said Sunday. "Whether it's a kilometer or 500 meters, but forward, every day."

The Institute for the Study of War think tank said on Sunday that Russian forces are funneling additional forces to the Avdiivka front, despite ongoing challenges with frontal mechanized assaults and the failure of a renewed push on October 19 and 20.

 

The U.S.-based think tank cited Ukrainian sources as saying that Russian forces continue to transfer personnel to the Avdiivka direction to support offensive efforts, despite heavy losses.