Ukrainian soldiers killed greater than 1,000 Russian soldiers in the deadliest day of fighting since the country was invaded greater than a 12 months ago, Kyiv’s military said Sunday.
IN video provided by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of UkraineSpokesman Oleksandr Shtupun claimed that Ukrainian forces killed 1,090 Russian soldiers on Saturday.
Shtupun also praised the elimination of eight Russian tanks, seven armored fighting vehicles and 4 artillery systems from combat.
The newest death toll report broke Kiev’s previous record of 1,030 Russian soldiers killed on the night of February 7, just weeks before the one-year anniversary of the start of the war on February 24.
Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyy also said on Sunday that a further 239 Russian soldiers were killed on the front line near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Kyiv Independent reported.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that the ongoing Battle of Bakhmut had “escalated” as Russia continued its offensive even in the face of losses.
![Russian soldiers take part in exercises at an unspecified location in Belarus.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008123737.jpg?w=1024)
“Our soldiers are doing all the things of their power to stop the enemy from carrying out their plans,” Maliar wrote on Telegram.
The Russian offensive on Bakhmut, which is significant to Ukraine’s supply chain, and the surrounding settlements has been going on since mid-January. Moscow first captured the city in May 2022.
Maxar Technologies’ satellite photos shared earlier this week show a once thriving city reduced to rubble and covered in ashes.
![Oleksandr Shtupun.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008123726.jpg?w=1024)
As of this weekend, Ukrainian forces are reported to have holed up in buildings on the western side of the Bakhmutka River. The two,600-foot open space between the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers was dubbed the “kill zone” as the battle progressed.
Despite earlier reports that Wagner’s Russian forces had captured the area, Sunday report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). he concluded that the troops had not advanced on Saturday.
News of Russia’s heavy losses over the weekend got here shortly after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, Mykhailo Podoliak, told Italian newspaper La Stampa about Ukraine’s strategy in the war-torn region.
“[Russia] coincided with Bakhmut with a big part of the trained military personnel, the remnants of his skilled army, in addition to private firms,” explained Podoliak.
“Due to this fact, now we have two objectives: to scale back their capable personnel as much as possible and line them up in a couple of key strenuous battles, to interrupt off their offensive, and to pay attention our resources elsewhere for the spring counter-offensive.”
One other helper was more explicit, says the BBC that the Bakhmut front was “a singular opportunity to kill many Russians”.
One American official, speaking anonymously, estimated that as many as 30,000 people had been killed in the attack since the starting of the war. Ukrainian officials also claimed on Tuesday that 4,000 residents had died in the city.