Ukraine War November 7: Russia suffers heavy losses after 3 weeks of attacking Avdiivka

Russian BM-21 Grad rocket launcher fires (Illustration: Sky News).

The war continues to rage on many fronts.

According to Rybar channel, positional combat operations continue in the direction of Starobel. Kiev forces continue to evacuate civilians near Kupyansk , occupying empty houses, which slows down the Russian advance in the area.

In the direction of Soledar , Russian units are advancing into the Berkhovka reservoir area, expanding the zone of control towards the railway. Battles for positions continue at the Kleshchiivka-Andriivka line, Ukrainian attacks and attempts to gain a foothold in the area are being repulsed.

In the Donetsk direction, in the Stepovoe (Petrovskoe) area, Russian units continue to advance into the forest belt near the railway. Heavy minelaying and constant harassing attacks by Ukrainian artillery slow down the Russian advance. In the southern region, Russia continues to gain ground on the achieved lines, fighting is ongoing in the area of ​​the Ukrainian fortified area "Tsarskaya Okhota".

There were no significant changes south of Donetsk , on the Priyutnoe - Urozhaynoe line. After the losses, Kiev did not attempt any further offensives, while Russian forces consolidated the achieved lines.

Russia regularly launched artillery and air strikes on Kiev's manpower and weapons concentrations. At Novomikhailovka in the Ugledar region, after the Russians advanced a little, the fighting turned into close-quarters fighting in trenches.

In the Orekhov area, on the Verbovoe - Rabotino line, Ukrainians attempted to attack Russian positions under the cover of armored vehicles, but were hit by accurate fire from anti-tank missiles and infantry and were forced to disperse. In general, the Kiev Armed Forces carried out attacks only in small groups due to lack of manpower and constant rotation, which did not allow them to achieve any success.

In the Kherson direction, fighting continues in Krynki. Ukraine mobilizes reinforcements along the river, including an BTR-4 with the support of a PTS self-propelled river ferry. Despite the active work of aircraft and artillery, Russia has not yet been able to dislodge the enemy from populated areas.

In addition, in the area of ​​​​the Antonovsky bridge, the Russian Armed Forces used the latest bomb and missile complex "Grom", concentratedly attacking the fighters of the Ukrainian formation.

Map of the Ukrainian war in the Avdiivka area as of November 5 (Photo: South Front).

General Staff: Kiev repelled Russian attacks in 6 directions

According to the evening report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on November 6, 57 clashes took place during the day. In total, Russia carried out 10 air strikes and 24 multiple rocket launcher attacks on Ukrainian positions, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The General Staff said that in the Kupyansk direction, Russia conducted unsuccessful attacks in the areas of Sinkovka, Ivanovka, Kharkov region and Stelmakhovka, Lugansk region, the defense forces repelled 15 attacks.

In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy carried out offensive operations near Bogdanovka and Khromovo, Donetsk region, but without success.

In the direction of Avdiivka, Russia attacked the settlements of Stepnoe, Avdiivka, Tone, Donetsk region but failed. Here, Kiev forces repelled 9 attacks.

In the direction of Marinka, Ukraine repelled 18 attacks.

In the Zaporizhia direction, Ukraine repelled six Russian attacks near Krasnoye, Rabotino and northwest of Verbovoye, Zaporizhia region.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continued to conduct offensive operations in the direction of Melitopol and Bakhmut, causing losses to the Russian forces in terms of manpower and equipment, exhausting the enemy along the entire front line.

Kiev says Russia suffered heavy losses in 3 weeks of Avdiivka offensive

Ukrainska Pravda reported that the 47th Independent Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that during the 3-week attack on Avdiivka in the direction of Donetsk, Russia lost 100 tanks and 250 armored vehicles of various types.

"The Russians could not encircle Avdiivka thanks to our defensive actions. During three weeks of active attacks, the Russians lost hundreds of tanks and 250 units of various armored vehicles. 7,000 enemy soldiers were killed or wounded," the 47th Brigade stated.

Russia lost hundreds of armored vehicles in Avdiivka (Source: 47th Brigade)

Kiev announces latest Russian missile stockpile

In an interview on November 6 with RBC Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), said that Russia is "waiting for temperatures to drop below zero" before launching mass attacks on Ukraine's energy system.

The attacks will begin as cold weather sets in, causing electricity consumption to peak. Temperatures in Kiev are unseasonably warm.

Russian forces attempted to cripple Kiev's energy grid with major attacks from October to February last year, leading to frequent power outages and heating shortages across the country.

This year, Russia hopes to strike even more devastating blows by hitting “all critical points of the energy system,” said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of state grid operator Ukrenergo.

In early October, President Zelensky said Russia would try to destroy energy infrastructure with more attacks this winter.

"They cannot understand that Ukraine will not surrender no matter what. But (the Russian military) will try to carry out more attacks and make more attempts to overcome our defenses... We are fully aware of the threat," he said.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has stockpiled about 870 high-precision missiles with a range of more than 350 km. This is almost the same as what the Russians did a year ago. The current number of missiles in Russia's inventory is estimated to be: 165 Kalibr; 160 Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kh-55; 290 Iskander-M and Iskander-K; 80 Kinzhal; 150 X-22/X-32 missiles.

Mr. Skibitsky stated that Russia has succeeded in establishing missile production and maintaining it at a level sufficient to accumulate reserves, but Kiev is preparing for strikes and is confident that Russia will not succeed.

Kiev says Russia lost 6,000 soldiers in a week

Russia lost 6,030 soldiers in the past week, according to an update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Monday, Newsweek reported. The news comes as Kiev forces said they launched multiple attacks on Russian positions over the weekend.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russia has lost a total of 305,970 soldiers since the conflict began in February 2022. That figure includes 880 casualties in the past day. The number of Russian casualties passed the 300,000 mark in Kiev's statistics on October 31.

Newsweek has not been able to independently verify the figure, and other estimates tend to be more conservative than Kiev's. The Kremlin does not often comment on its casualty estimates, and when it does, experts say the numbers are inaccurate.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment but did not receive a response.

Ukraine destroys Russian Navy warship (Source: Kyiv Post).

Ukrainian commanders under increasing pressure

A prominent Ukrainian volunteer, Serhiy Sternenko, has called for the leader of the ceremony to be jailed for life. "There have been many similar incidents. Unfortunately. If there are no systemic changes, there will be more such incidents," he said.

The BBC also published a video in which a Ukrainian soldier, believed to be from a nearby unit, criticised the organisers of the event, saying: “As a result of this (ritual) many soldiers died.”

Another wrote: "How can we gather all our warriors in one place?"

"Ukrainians have 'punished' Russians in a similar way many times before. And we quickly forgot about lining up outside, stopped squirming and started constantly looking up at the sky," a pro-Kremlin blogger said on social media.

Russia's unsuccessful offensive on all southern and eastern fronts

The Guardian reported that Kiev said on November 6 that Russian armed forces had carried out a number of "unsuccessful" attacks across the front lines in the south and east over the past week.

Neither Moscow nor Kiev has made any significant territorial gains in nearly a year, and Ukraine’s chief of staff said last week that the war had reached a stalemate. But fighting has continued, with both sides claiming heavy losses.

Ukraine says 400 separate clashes have taken place in the past seven days and Russia is continuing to attack Avdiivka, an industrial city east of Donetsk.

"The enemy is conducting offensive actions in several directions at the same time," Andriy Kovalyov, spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on November 6.

Mr. Kovalyov also spoke about Russian attacks near the village of Rabotino, which Ukraine regained control of earlier this year in the southern Zaporizhia region, and asserted that Russia had tried to restore lost positions near Rabotino but had failed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that it had repelled enemy attacks near Rabotino. At a briefing with top generals, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week that his forces "continue to conduct active defense, inflicting effective damage on the enemy, and Russian units are advancing forward, gaining more advantageous positions."

Kiev is conducting offensive operations south of Bakhmut, Mr. Kovalyov added.

Sevastopol under attack, Russian air defense opens fire

Russian-appointed Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on Telegram on November 7 that air defenses had opened fire in Sevastopol. According to preliminary data, Russia shot down five UAVs over the Black Sea, all services are operating normally, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Mr. Razvozhaev updated on Telegram at 4:05 a.m. on November 7 (8:05 a.m. Vietnam time) that the air defense system was operational in Sevastopol. According to rescuers, fragments from one of the UAVs fell on the roof of a house in Andriivka.

Emergency response units are on scene and a small fire is being extinguished.

According to BBC, Guardian, Newsweek, RIA Novosti, Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Rybar

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/chien-su-ukraine-ngay-711-nga-ton-that-nang-sau-3-tuan-tan-cong-avdiivka-20231107104019708.htm