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“Stadium of death near Toretsk”: Russia lost 50,000 troops but failed to break Ukrainian defenses
The Russian military has been throwing troops at the Toretsk direction for over six months, but each time they are crushed by Ukrainian defenses. Russians have lost about 50,000 soldiers on this front, with more than 20,000 irreversible casualties, Army TV reports.
“50,000 people — that’s a good-sized European stadium filled to the brim. But the Kremlin regime didn’t bring these people for football. It brought them to die near Toretsk,” Major Serhii Khominsky, Ukrainian press officer of the 100th Separate Mechanized Brigade, says.
A fortress holding out for over a year
Khominsky stresses that the 100th Brigade has held this crucial front line for over a year. Despite repeated Russian attempts to break through from Horlivka toward Kostyantynivka, they have only reached the outskirts of Toretsk and failed to advance further.
“This is one of the front sectors where the enemy has made the least progress. It frustrates them, but they can’t change anything — thanks to the heroism of our fighters,” he emphasizes.
Ukrainian defenders have faced nearly every form of Russian tactics here: from massive armored assaults to nighttime infantry storm attacks.
“You could say the only things we haven’t seen are battle kangaroos and penguins. Everything else has been tried,” Khominsky adds with bitter irony.
Russia deploys robots in battle
The officer also reveals that Russia has started using ground robotic combat systems. However, these machines proved nearly powerless in the devastated urban environment.
“High-rise buildings turned into thousands of tons of rubble. These ruins are hard to pass even for a human, let alone a robotic system,” Khominsky explains.
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