The Ukrainian military announced on Thursday that the number of Russian soldiers killed has escalated to 439,970 since the onset of Russia’s military operation, with 440 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours alone.
According to Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency, citing the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia has also suffered substantial losses in military hardware during this period, including 6,914 tanks, 13,237 armoured vehicles, 10,963 artillery systems, 1,021 multiple launch rocket systems, 729 air defence systems, 347 fighter jets, 325 helicopters, 26 warships, in addition to 1,800 pieces of special equipment, 8,590 drones, one submarine, and 14,595 vehicles and fuel tanks.
In a related development, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in New Delhi, India, on Thursday for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation with India.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as reported by “The Hindu” newspaper, stated that Kuleba is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, along with several Indian government officials on Friday.
Kuleba’s visit follows a phone call last week between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Modi emphasized the importance of diplomacy and dialogue in ending the ongoing war with Russia and expressed India’s willingness to contribute to peace efforts.
This week, the Ukrainian army announced the successful interception of all drones launched by Russia last night, totalling 12 drones.
Additionally, the Ukrainian army stated that it destroyed Iranian-made drones over the regions of Mykolaiv in the south and Kharkiv in the east.
In contrast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, stated on Tuesday morning that Russian air defence systems intercepted 13 aerial targets as they approached the city of Belgorod, the administrative centre of the region.
