Russia tightens its encirclement around Azov Brigade.

Russia tightens its encirclement of the Azov Brigade; Russia shoots down over 200 Ukrainian UAVs,... these are some of the notable news items in the Russia-Ukraine conflict update on the morning of February 15th.

Russian forces completely captured Toresk.

Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the 51st Army Group has completely captured Toressk, and 70% of the Ukrainian forces defending the area have been neutralized.

Throughout the Battle of Toresk, Ukraine deployed eight brigades with 40,000 troops, of which more than 26,000 were attacked by Russia. Russia also destroyed more than 240 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 340 artillery pieces and mortars. The Azov Brigade, Ukraine's most resilient fighting force, suffered heavy losses from the Russian attack.

Russian forces intensify attacks on Ukrainian strongholds. Source: Russian Ministry of Defense.

When Russia captures Toresk, they will directly threaten the city of Kostiantynivka, one of the three remaining core Ukrainian positions in the Donbass region. At this point, Kostiantynivka is under attack from two sides: Toresk and Chasov Yar. The offensive on these three core Ukrainian positions in the Donbass region will soon begin, and this will be the decisive battle in Donbass.

According to Sputnik news agency, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have completely captured Toretsk, an important city in the western Donetsk province. Toretsk is the largest town in the entire Toretsk metropolitan area, with a population of 35,000 at the start of the war in 2022.

Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade suffered heavy losses in Kursk.

On the Kursk front, the 36th Marine Brigade achieved a good overall combat record, ranking among Ukraine's elite brigades. Due to Ukraine's concentration of forces in the Kursk direction, the 36th Brigade also received German Marder infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, the brigade received new equipment such as tanks and UAVs, and continued to receive troop reinforcements.

Although Ukrainian brigades on the Kursk front suffered heavy losses, they were still able to maintain their combat capability; especially the mobile main brigades, which had to carry out continuous offensive missions to counter the intense Russian pressure.

Russia launches artillery barrage on Ukrainian positions. Source: Russian Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, Russia had detected a battalion-level unit of Ukraine's 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade in a forest near Sumy province, and subsequently launched an attack with Iskander-M missiles. However, it was only a small Ukrainian troop concentration point, so the damage was not extensive.

Recently, the 36th Marine Brigade's larger assembly point was discovered by Russia as it was preparing to reinforce Ukrainian forces in Kursk. A Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile strike was immediately launched, inflicting heavy losses on the 36th Brigade.

According to the Russian news site Topwar, in the forest near Ivolzhansky, the Ukrainian 36th Brigade, recently reinforced with newly deployed troops, lost a total of at least 32 units of equipment, including troop transport vehicles heading to the Kursk border. The number of casualties is still undetermined, but according to some news sources, the attack resulted in at least one hundred soldiers being put out of action.

Russia shot down over 200 Ukrainian drones in a single day.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Russian forces have gained control of the Vodyanoye Vtoroye community in the Donbass region.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, units of Russia's Southern Battle Group gained better lines and positions on February 13. In the area controlled by the Southern Battle Group, Ukraine suffered 155 casualties, 3 pickup trucks, and 4 field artillery pieces in the past 24 hours.

Russia's Central Combat Group inflicted approximately 510 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed five enemy armored vehicles in the area under its control over the past day.

Russian air defense forces also destroyed 202 UAVs, 3 rockets launched from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), and 3 Hammer smart bombs belonging to Ukraine over the past day.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/chien-su-nga-ukraine-sang-152-nga-siet-vay-lu-doan-azov-373878.html