Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday (20) that Ukrainian forces had suffered more than 800 casualties over the past 24 hours, including “up to 20 American mercenaries”.
During a Russian air force attack on positions of the nationalist Kraken formation and mercenary units in the Kharkov region in eastern Ukraine, “more than 100 fighters were killed, including up to 20 American mercenaries,” said Russian defense spokesman General Igor Konashenkov.
In his usual morning report, the general added that up to 130 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in another attack in the same region, this time using highprecision ground weapons.
Konashenkov pointed out that in the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region near the town of Velikomikhailovka, Russian tactical aviation “virtually annihilated” the 110th Ukrainian Territorial Defense Battalion, causing more than 350 casualties, of which no fewer than 200 were fatal.
According to the military spokesman, more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian artillery fire in the same region and in Mykolaiv.
In addition, Konashenkov said, Ukrainian airborne troops in the selfproclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic lost more than 200 men to airtosurface missile attacks.