• Russian-backed rebel forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk region sustained significant losses.
• UK intelligence estimates Donetsk militia has lost 55% of its initial strength.
• Russian forces launched missiles at the southern city of Mykolaiv.

According to UK intelligence officials, Russian and Russian-backed rebel forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk region have sustained significant losses.

According to their estimates, the Donetsk militia alone has lost 55% of its initial strength.

According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces are intent on capturing the all of the nearby city of Luhansk in order to encircle Lysychansk.

Serhiy Haidai, the regional head, claimed that the city had undergone “colossal destruction.”

He referred to the situation at Severodonetsk, its sister city, as “hell,” and he cited the mayor as saying that 7,000–8,000 inhabitants were still living there.

Russia very likely intended to send numerous reserve units to the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, which includes the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to UK military intelligence.

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The “extreme attrition” experienced by Russian and Russian proxies in Donbas was brought to light. The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic’s human rights ombudsman reported last week that 2,128 of its personnel had been killed and 8,897 had been injured, although Russia has for months refrained from disclosing its own toll. Daria Morozova said that 654 more individuals had perished.

In his late-night speech on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that while Luhansk was now the most difficult location, the occupying force was also “placing severe pressure on the Donetsk direction.”

Separately, local leader Vitaliy Kim said that on Wednesday, Russian forces launched seven missiles at the southern city of Mykolaiv, though he made no mention of any injuries.

UK intelligence reported that 55% of the Donetsk proxy militia’s initial force had been lost due to fatalities in their daily briefing.

Reports of citizens being coerced into the militia with low morale and subpar equipment, such as firearms that were rendered obsolete decades ago, have been going around for months. The SBU security service of Ukraine said last month that militiamen compared their conditions to slavery and were prepared to desert.

Yevgeniy Mikhailov, a disgruntled former proxy official, claimed last month that untrained Donetsk reservists had been dispatched to the front line because Russia had ceased providing conscripts. There have been “tragedies everywhere,” one local told the BBC last month.

The proxy administration announced this week that it was recruiting foreign mercenaries to join its ranks by offering them one-year contracts.

The two Russian proxies are not acknowledged worldwide. In reality, Moscow only acknowledged the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics two days prior to its February invasion of Ukraine. In front of President Vladimir Putin last week, Kazakhstan’s president said that his country would not be recognised.

On Wednesday, the Moscow City Council declared that the US Embassy’s location had been moved from Bolshoi Devyatinsky Lane to 1 Donetsk People’s Republic Square.

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