According to British estimates cited by DPA, more Russian troops were killed and wounded in Ukraine every day in February than at any time since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country more than two years ago. Agerpres.

On average, Russia suffered casualties of 983 people killed and wounded per day, the British Ministry of Defense estimated on Sunday in a daily bulletin on the development of events at the front in Ukraine.

In total, more than 355,000 Russian servicemen have been killed and wounded to date, the agency says.

“This increase in the average number of victims almost certainly reflects Russia’s preparations for massive hostilities and a war of attrition,” the British Ministry of Defense also assesses.

“Although such an approach cost human lives dearly, it increased pressure on Ukraine’s forward positions,” the same British report said.

At the same time, the operations of the Russian Air Force in the east of Ukraine have been significantly reduced after Kyiv’s Air Defense Forces recently managed to shoot down several Russian planes, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

“The protection provided by our Western partners is effective,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said, as quoted by Ukrainian Pravda on Sunday.

According to Ukrainian data, several Russian Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jets were shot down in eastern Ukraine in recent days. The Russian military has never officially confirmed the loss of these planes, reports dpa.

Just a few days ago, Ukraine announced that its forces had shot down a Russian A-50 reconnaissance aircraft. In January, Kyiv said it shot down one of Russia’s expensive small planes used to monitor airspace and carry out attacks.

Despite the deployment of air defense systems on the front line, Ukraine is asking its Western allies for new such systems to protect its major cities, dpa notes.

In Russia’s latest attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, at least ten people, including three young children, were killed Friday night when a kamikaze drone crashed into a residential building.

At the same time, according to the first information, at least 16 people were injured on Sunday afternoon during a Russian attack on the city of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine.

An intelligent guided bomb damaged several residential buildings in this city of the Donetsk region, UNIAN reports, the condition of the two victims was classified as serious by doctors.