Russia Loses 16 Armored Vehicles, Hundreds of Troops in a Day: Ukraine

Russia lost hundreds of troops and 16 armored personnel carriers in a single day, according to Ukraine's military.

Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces posted on Facebook its latest update of Russian losses, where it said around 200 Russian troops were killed in the Kherson Oblast.

It added that troops "were eliminated" around the districts of Fedorivka and Kakhovsky, in the southern Ukrainian region, on Friday.

The update said that 115 Russian troops were wounded in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and that Ukraine's forces had destroyed five units of Russian military equipment, including an anti-missile complex and an ammunition depot.

In total Ukraine's forces said on Saturday that the Russian death toll for the previous 24 hours was 710, taking the total since the invasion started on February 24 to 105,960, although Russian and Western estimates are much lower.

Ukraine also said that it had destroyed 16 Russian armored personnel carriers and three tanks, with Russia now losing 6,075 and 3,029 pieces of the equipment respectively.

Kyiv said that Russian shelling and airstrikes have continued while there had also been further attacks from MLRS rocket salvo systems, including in the city of Kherson, the capital of the region of the same name recently retaken by Ukrainian forces.

"The enemy continues mortar and artillery shelling of populated areas along the right bank of the Dnieper River," the update added.

"Do you want to die next year?"

It comes as Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russia was preparing a new mobilization order and would close its border within a week. In a video message in Russian, Reznikov said that borders would also be closed in Belarus and that those living in cities would be at risk of being called up to fight.

"Today you are thinking about how to decorate your festive table", he said, referring to the holiday season which includes New Year and Orthodox Christmas celebrations, "but under the chiming clock you may not hear a knock at the door."

"It will be the military officer knocking," he said, as he appealed to Russians to oppose the draft and the country's leadership that has instigated the war. He added that "if the war drags on, your personal chances of dying will increase" because the next mobilization phase will be followed by further ones.

As Reznikov pledged the strength of Ukrainian resistance, he asked: "Answer yourself honestly, do you want to die next year or lose your arms and legs so that someone else does not go to prison?"

The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency Kyrylo Budanov told the BBC that the new wave of mobilization would start on January 5 as he described how fighting in Ukraine was at a deadlock with neither side able to make significant advances.

"We can't defeat them in all directions comprehensively," he said, as he reiterated Kyiv's call for more Western weapons, "neither can they."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's defense ministry for comment.