Russia's onslaught on multiple axes in a week ended with the Kremlin's heaviest losses of the entire war, with a near-record number of tanks destroyed or wounded.
In its situational estimates published in the last 72 hours, the Ukrainian General Staff (AGS) said military intelligence believed that Kyiv forces had killed or seriously wounded more than 3,000 Russian soldiers and rendered more than 75 tanks and nearly 100 armored personnel carriers incapacitated.
On December 18, Russian forces deployed on a 2,000-kilometer front lost 44 tanks for various reasons.
Ragnar Gudmundsson, an Icelandic analyst who tracks losses in the war in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, reported that the record for tank losses on the 18th was broken only on October 21, 2023.
An AGS spokesman said that the Ukrainian military's estimates mainly record Russian losses by analyzing drones** that have successfully struck, destroyed military equipment or killed or injured Russian soldiers.
Russia says its losses are an order of magnitude less. Analysts at the Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defense say that Ukraine's estimate of Russia during the war has been very bad, possibly exaggerating by 10-20%, but is generally accurate.
Both Russian and Ukrainian *** have reported that the eastern approach to the Donbas city of Avdiivka is the site of the heaviest fighting in the war since Russia launched a local offensive there in early October, and is likely to be the most intense and massive fighting on the front in recent days.
The Ukrainian military social *** recorded a column advance of Russian armored vehicles before being sliced to pieces by artillery, automatic cannon and missile fire. According to reports, drones** recorded on December 16 near Krasnohorivka, a remote village in Adviivka, showed 13+ tanks and armored crews under attack, seemingly stalled under artillery fire.
It is reported that at least three units of Ukrainian attack drones are operating in the Avdiivka area, whose task is to destroy armored vehicles covering Russian infantry.