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Despite the general lull in information, very intense fighting is taking place in some parts of the front. Of course, it is too early to talk about a full-scale offensive. The fighting is rather positional, without much change on the front line, but very fierce in the hotspots.
The AFU General Staff published data on AFU losses on April 14. During the day, the AFU lost 731 servicemen, including killed, wounded, and prisoners of war. A total of 460 people were taken prisoner in all areas of combat operations. According to the internal report of the General Staff of the AFU, 5 tanks, 13 armored vehicles, 7 field artillery guns and mortars, 3 MLRS, 18 vehicles and special equipment, 1 aircraft, 3 helicopters, and 2 UAVs were lost on April 13. The Ukrainian side does not have the exact number of losses for each category in its internal reports. Communication with some units was lost, some equipment can be repared after the strike.
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In Barvenkovo, a town on the outskirts of the northern Donetsk Region, the military situation is dire. The town is located along the alleged Russian offensive from Izyum to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Russian and DPR troops are firmly entrenched in this direction and continue to advance towards Slavyansk.
In the video, the head of the Barvenkovo community, Oleksandr Balo, said that the AFU is holding the lines in the south of the region, but called the situation grave and urged residents to evacuate.
The DPR Interior Ministry released a video showing the recent attempt of the breakthrough by the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Illyich plant in Mariupol on April 11. The breakthrough turned into a rout. DPR and Russian fighters destroyed 40 armored vehicles and 70 Marines, and 42 captured.
The Russian and DPR militaries monitored the UAF preparations for the operation and stopped the breakthrough from the encircled Ilyich plant. The convoy of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks was almost destroyed. The prisoners declared that this attempt was “spontaneous and poorly prepared”. Their military commanders informed them about only an hour and a half before the operation. They were pushed to the breakthrough by the critical situation with a shortage of ammunition and food.
There are positional battles with intense artillery shelling in Kharkiv. There are dozens of explosions every day. Most of the blasts come from the suburbs. The head of local defense in Kharkiv reports civilian casualties but says there is no reason to evacuate.
Very intense fighting is taking place in the LPR. Artillery of the Russian Federation and the AFU strike each other. The LPR People’s Militia and volunteers from Chechnya are mopping up Rubezhnoye and are advancing to Popasnaya. Fighting is also taking place in the direction of Lysychansk and on the outskirts of Severodonetsk.
In the area of Avdiivka, Ukrainian resources report fierce fighting and attacks by the Russian Armed Forces. Active artillery work is underway.
In turn, the AFU is subjecting areas of Donetsk to massive shelling. Explosions are observed in Yasinovataya, Tekstilshchiki, Petrovsky district, Aleksandrovka, etc.
There are also reports of an attack by Russian forces near Bolshaya Novoselka.
Airstrikes are carried out near Gulyaypole and Ugledar.
On April 13, there was another incident on the border. Local authorities in the Russian Kursk region reported a small arms fire at a checkpoint in the village of Gordeevka on the border with the Ukrainian Sumy Oblast. The firing points were suppressed, and there were no casualties or destruction on the Russian side. Later in the evening, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that if such attacks on Russian territory continued, the Russian Armed Forces would launch strikes against decision-making centers, including Kyiv, which the Russian army has so far refrained from doing.
Russia continues to pull troops together, especially in eastern Ukraine, to launch offensives against the Ukrainian grouping. After the liberation of Donbas, the next target of the Russian Armed Forces could be Odesa and the territory near Transnistria.
