The Ukrainian Army destroys a Russian base, killing 200 Russian soldiers while injuring 300.

KEY POINTS

• Ukrainian forces attacked warehouses where Russians stored fuel and ammunition
• The forces also destroyed an area that Russians converted into barracks
• More than 36,000 Russian soldiers are estimated to have died since the war began in February

After the Ukrainian Army destroys a Russian base, 200 Russian soldiers die and 300 are injured.
A Russian military post in the temporarily controlled city of Melitopol was attacked by Ukrainian troops, leading to the deaths of about 200 Russian servicemen and the wounded of another 300.

Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, claimed that after Ukrainian soldiers attacked four Russian military bases in Melitopol, including warehouses where they store fuel and ammunition as well as a space that had been turned into a barracks by Russian soldiers, the Kremlin’s forces suffered significant losses.
“Not according to the official report, but rather, in accordance with reasonably trustworthy information, more than 200 Ruscists were totally annihilated. Over 300 Russians suffered injuries “In a video that was uploaded to his official Telegram account, Fedorov claimed.

Federov added that they are now preparing to accommodate a large flow of residents who want to evacuate to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has suffered massive losses among its military forces. As of Tuesday, a total of 36,350 Russian soldiers lost their lives since the war began in February, according to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. 

The increasing deaths among the Russians have led to low morale among troops. On July 3, the Ministry of Defense’s Chief Intelligence Directorate released a recording of an intercepted phone call where a Russian soldier revealed that troops in the fourth battalion captured their own commander after he tried to flee the war. 

“They forced him to stay, so he wouldn’t (run away). That’s because they have a number of 300s (wounded) which is f***ing huge. And we also loaded and prepared our cars yesterday, for getting away from here. But we received an order to stay. Yesterday, more than 20 300s (more than 20 wounded soldiers) were driven away,” the soldier said.

The recording followed an earlier report from Ukraine’s Chief Intelligence Directorate about a wave of resignations among the Russian military and law enforcement service, with fewer Russians willing to enlist and join the war in Ukraine.

In late June, a group of women living in the Russia’s Republic of Buryatia demanded the local government to recall their husbands who were deployed to the war in Ukraine after 30 soldiers from their brigade were killed. 

People who flee Mariupol and Melitopol as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, wait around an evacuee cargo truck at a collecting point in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine April 1, 2022.