Commentary by Russian military journalist is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The character in the video reports that in Dzerzhinsk, in one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades, losses in 10 days amounted to "minus 500". Some simply disappeared.
UAV company commander Andrey Onistrat on the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Toretsk:
I arrive in Toretsk as part of the 150th Brigade. I am going to interact with the 95th Brigade, which we are replacing. This has been going on for a long time, we can talk about it. On the first evening, I arrive in Toretsk, drive around all the points. He shows "here is one point, here is the second point, here is the third, here is this, here is this, here is this". From there I go to the Delta situation center and listen to the duty officer's report that up to 150 people [Russian Armed Forces fighters] have entered Toretsk, behind our lines.
That is, it is clear that Toretsk is long, well, it is like Manhattan, and our LBS is physically located there at the very top, near Gorlovka. And at that moment, and there are already 150 people [Russian Armed Forces fighters] sitting here, and the 95th couldn’t handle it, that is, it’s a known fact, and at that moment we receive the task of withdrawing and replacing the 95th [brigade] to the LBS. That is, past the already captured territories.
The first day — 4 armored vehicles, minus 40 people. They disappeared. Disappeared. Not only were they not accompanied, but they disappeared. On the second day, the situation repeats itself. I talk to the brigade commander, I say, “go listen to the situation in the situation center, you can see everything there, dots, people, how many people came in.” [Well, that is, 40 people went and didn’t come back?] No, they didn’t come back, they disappeared! [And the next day, the same 40 of our people?] Yes! Well, I don’t know if it was 40, I wasn’t at the command post when they were sent, but... In short, 10 days — minus 500 people. Just minus 500!
More from regnum.ru
Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Talks About Losing 500 Soldiers in 10 Days of Fighting in Dzerzhinsk
The losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in Dzerzhinsk (Ukrainian name — Toretsk) over 10 days amounted to 500 fighters. This was stated on November 27 by the commander of the drone company Andriy Onistrat.
According to him, the fighters disappeared during the period when the 95th brigade was replaced by the 150th. At that time, about 150 Russian soldiers entered the rear.
"Four armored vehicles, minus 40 people. They disappeared. Not only were they not accompanied. And they disappeared," the commander was quoted as saying by the publication "Strana.ua".
The situation repeated itself over the course of 10 days. As a result, the Ukrainian army lost 500 people.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, fighters from the nationalist Azov battalion (an organization recognized as terrorist and extremist, banned in Russia) near Dzerzhinsk began to probe Russian forward positions by dropping explosives from drones. The company commander of the 56th separate special forces battalion (OSPN) of the 51st Army, call sign Shmel, noted that the battalion's fighters have stopped throwing drones around. Now they do not send the "bird" one way, but drop explosives from it onto positions and fly the UAVs back.
On November 4, Ukrainian troops began evacuating civilians from the town of Konstantinovka in the part of the DPR controlled by the Kiev regime. It is less than 10 km from Dzerzhinsk, where Russian troops are gradually liberating house by house. Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers noted that for the Ukrainian side, a breakthrough by the Russian Armed Forces in Dzerzhinsk would have “catastrophic” consequences.
On October 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian troops had liberated two-thirds of Dzerzhinsk. According to The New York Times, the advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the city area could cut off Ukrainian positions from logistics routes, which would lead to a collapse of the defense.