Ukraine Russia Conflict: Russian claims to kill 320 Ukrainian service personnel in air strikes

Russia’s ministry of defence has issued its daily operational briefing. In which it claims that:

• They killed “up to 320” Ukrainian service personnel in air strikes
• Russian air defence systems shot down 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles
• Four installations of the BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system, 46 weapons and Ukrainian military equipment were destroyed
• An ammunition depot near Novomikhailovka in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic was destroyed
• An artillery strike on a hangar on the territory of the Okean shipbuilding plant in the city of Nikolaev destroyed more than 15 Ukrainian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles

Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Zelenskiy visited troops in Kharkiv and toured the country’s second-largest city to see damage by Russian forces in the Ukrainian president’s first official appearance outside the Kyiv area since the start of the war. However, about 31% of the Kharkiv region’s territory is occupied by Russian forces while 5% has been liberated by Ukrainian defenders, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration said. Also, Zelenskiy said he has fired the head of the state security service in Kharkiv for not working to defend the city, adding that “law enforcement officers” are now involved. “I came, figured out and fired the head of the security service of Ukraine of the [Kharkiv] region for the fact that he did not work on the defence of the city from the first days of the full-scale war, but thought only about himself,” the president said in his daily national address. “On which motives? The law enforcement officers will figure it out.”