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New Video of Russian Losses on the Siverskyi Donets River Appear in Network

Russian military vehicles, that was destroyed by Ukrainian troops on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets River
Russian military vehicles, that was destroyed by Ukrainian troops on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets River

A video has appeared on social media showing the place where the Ukrainian army defeated the Russians while trying to cross the Seversky Donets River in the Luhansk region on May 11. On this day, the occupiers lost several hundreds of troops and more than 80 units of military equipment

Two or more Russian army battalions—potentially 100 vehicles and more than a thousand troops— on May 11 tried to cross a pontoon bridge spanning the Siverskyi Donets Riveron . But Ukrainian artillery caught them at the river bank—and destroyed them.

Read more: Ukraine’s General Staff Operational Report: the Enemy is Storming Without Success in Several Directions in the South-East of Ukraine

The rapid destruction of the dozens tanks and other armored vehicles, along with the bridge itself, underscores Russia’s deepening woes as its troops try, and fail, to make meaningful gains in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

The Russians’ inability to cross rivers might explain their sloth. To be fair, “conducting river-crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky maneuver,” the U.K. Defense Ministry noted.

The Siverskyi Donets, which threads from southern Russia into eastern Ukraine then back into Russia, is just one of several water barriers Russian battalions must cross in order to advance west into Ukrainian-held territory. According to the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff, the battalion that got caught at the pontoon bridge apparently was trying to strike at Lyman, a city of 20,000 that lies 17 miles west of the doomed crossing.

Read more: The 85th Day of the War: Russian Casualties in Ukraine
TAGS War