The Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary general General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday amid the fighting between Russia and Ukraine entering the 36th day.
“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region,” news agency Reuters quoted Stoltenberg in Brussels.
“At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering,” he added.
It has been 36 days since Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine, calling it a ‘military operation. Earlier in the day, the Russian forces attacked a military base in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
According to local governor, two people were killed and five injured during the attack, The Kyiv Independent reported. The Kharkiv region in the north-eastern Ukraine came under heavy shelling by the Russian forces, preventing the opening of evacuation corridors in the region.
Meanwhile, in heavy shelling, a school was damaged in the Ukrainian village in Kyiv Oblast. Artworks were scattered on the ground with glass shattered and debris lying on the ground.
In a missile strike on Mykolaiv’s regional administration building, 20 people were killed and 33 people were injured. The Ukrainian media reported that half of the building was demolished in the missile strike.
But the Ukrainian armed forces continue to claim that the Russian forces suffered heavy losses in the war. The Kyiv Independent quoted the Ukrainian forces which claimed that Moscow lost 17,500 troops, 614 tanks and 1,735 armed personnel carriers since the invasion began.
These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of March 31, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian forces also claimed that the Russians lost 1,201 vehicles, 135 aircraft and 131 helicopters in the war. In another development, a U.K. intelligence chief says demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and accidentally shot down their own aircraft, news agency AP reported.