02/13/2024 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP
A small town near Donetsk was stormed by superior forces of Russian occupation forces for four months. The frenzy and thirst to capture Avdeevka, which has been a bone in the throat of the Russians since 2014, as well as Putin’s desire to show some kind of “epic” victory, led to the fact that tens of thousands of Russians were thrown into the fortified area, which turned into a meat grinder for the ROV (Russian occupation forces) and thousands of pieces of equipment. And it can already be argued that this campaign of the occupying army became the largest and most disastrous – taking into account the length of the offensive front, the size of the city and the level of its importance.
Read more about this in the material of the joint project OBOZ.UA and the Information Resistance group .
Why are the numbers different?
It is difficult to talk about the losses of Russian occupation forces in the Avdeevka area. It is difficult because their accounting has several categories, namely the verified (documented – photo/video) category and the unverified category (operational data from the battlefield, not always documented).
There is also the most difficult category to evaluate – unconfirmed data. One example. This is when it is known that a tank was hit on the battlefield and its crew burned, that is, 3-4 casualties depending on the type of tank. But it is known that there was a landing party on the tank with verified losses of three more people. At the same time, three managed to escape, one of whom was wounded and lost his legs. According to unconfirmed reports, the wounded man died before reaching the hospital.
This also applies to equipment that, for example, is assembled in the rear area, but something very explosive flies into the hangar – and it all flies into the air. What exactly? How many? Two burning trucks near the hangar were verified; according to the military, six pieces of equipment were destroyed, but it is also known that there were 12 pieces of equipment in the hangar and, according to unverified data, all of them were destroyed.
This long introduction was necessary in order to explain in detail how different the figures for the same springboard can be, depending on how the categories of calculation are used. Now about the Russian losses themselves during the four months of the offensive on Avdeevka.
Personnel losses
To attack Avdievka, Russian occupation forces concentrated the following forces and means:
units of the 2nd OVA – 15th, 21st, 30th Motorized Rifle Brigade;
units of the 41st OVA – 55th, 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade;
units of the 90th TD – 239th TD;
ODSB “Veterans”;
units of almost all 1 AK – 1st, 114th, 132nd Motorized Rifle Brigade, etc.
And also: 10th OTB, 1141st, 1487th MSP TRV, etc.
In total, the group of Russian occupation forces concentrated in the direction of Avdeevka reached 40 thousand, and also grew as the offensive failed, increasing due to the pull-in of forces from other bridgeheads.
Only according to the most conservative estimates, the total number of ROM losses over four months exceeded 15 thousand killed.
Equipment losses
In this category, I tried to take into account mainly verified destroyed and damaged units. But, as is already known, verified information is often incomplete and in reality there are more losses. Therefore, this is only an approximate indicator of what the ROV was lost during the four months of the offensive.
I would also note that the analysis of losses was broken down by settlements and villages, and was not concentrated only on Avdiivka.
In the direction of Avdeevka – 62 units.
In the area of the village of Vodyanoye there are 126 units.
In the direction of the North – 8 units.
In the Stepovoye area there are 64 units.
In the Krasnogorovka area – 130 units.
That is, according to only verified data, in four months of fighting for a small town with an area of less than 29 km², Russian troops lost 390 pieces of equipment, mainly MBT and AFV components.
Last week, Forbes published an article reporting that Russian troops lost 214 tanks (according to verified information) during the offensive on Avdeevka, which corresponds to a tank division. In principle, these data, as for a verified category, are completely true and it is correct to say that in Avdeevka the tank division was wiped out to zero. But still with an important note – at least one.
https://t.me/uaobozrevatel/106458
If we consider the losses of the Russian occupation forces over four months non-linearly and by categories beyond the verified one, then the amount of destroyed Russian equipment not only exceeds 500 units, but can reach from 600 to 700.
That is, the ROV offensive on Avdeevka became the largest and most disastrous campaign of the Russian occupation army, taking into account the length of the offensive front, the size of the city and the level of its importance.
What do we end up with?
Currently, Russian occupation forces in Avdeevka are mainly conducting urban battles. They are trying to cut the city into two parts, creating a threatening situation by cutting off route 0542 along Industrialnaya Street. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Russian command has been given a new, stricter deadline for the complete capture of the city.
But whatever the final result, the Russian occupation forces lost the battle for Avdeevka long ago. Over the course of these two years, the Russian Army has constantly disgraced itself, demonstrating its inability to effectively carry out its tasks. But perhaps the loudest and bloodiest disgrace of the ROV is Avdeevka.