On Saturday night, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russia had “completely cleared” the city of Mariupol from “Azov forces, foreign mercenaries and the Ukrainian army”. “During the liberation of Mariupol, 1,464 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered. In Mariupol alone, Ukrainian losses rose to more than 4,000 on April 16. The entire Mariupol metropolitan area was completely cleared by the Azov militants, foreign mercenaries and the Ukrainian armed forces,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have learned something as early as Saturday after warning that if the last Ukrainian army was liquidated in the port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces, he would “end peace talks with Moscow”. As is known, Russia has indicated in the past that it does not see any point in negotiations at the present time.
According to a very detailed briefing of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the siege of March 11 in Mariupol were the 36th Special Marine Brigade, 109th Regional Defense Brigade, 503rd Special Marine Brigade, 17th Special Mechanized Brigade, and 17th Squadron. . unit units. Armor-piercing brigade, “Azov”, “Aidar”, Nazi formations “Right Sector”, police units and state border services, foreign mercenaries. The total number of this group reached about 8 thousand 100 people.
As early as 1464, Ukrainian soldiers surrendered during the liberation of Mariupol. The number of self-help is increasing every day. Including those who fled from the Azovstal lands. According to their testimonies, the total number of Ukrainian soldiers, Nazis and foreign mercenaries seeking asylum in Azovstalon does not exceed 2.5 thousand.
Thus, on April 16 in Mariupol alone, the loss of the Ukrainian army amounted to more than 4,000 people.
According to the Russians, the losses in Ukraine can be estimated at 23,367 people since the start of the “special operation” on Saturday.
According to the Ministry of Defense, today, high-precision air missiles reached 15 enemy targets. Among them: six storage sites of Ukrainian military equipment and seven Ukrainian forces were destroyed in Parvenkovo, Robizhnoye, Babasnaya, Novozvanovka, Krasnoarmeysk, Seledovo and Novopakmutovka. More than 320 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and wounded, 23 armored vehicles and seven vehicles for various purposes were destroyed.
The operational and tactical flight destroyed 67 Ukrainian military formations and military equipment during the day. Missile forces crashed into 317 military installations, including.
Russian air defense equipment In the Odessa region, a Ukrainian military transport plane flew into the air, to transport large quantities of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries. In addition, two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Lozovaya and Vyselaga.
They added: “Since the start of the special operation, the total number of aircraft has reached 134 aircraft, 460 drones, 246 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,269 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 252 missile launchers, 987 artillery and minesweepers in the camps, 2,158 A unit. of special military vehicles was destroyed.”
