Day 308: December 28Today the Ukrainian General Staff released the results of striking Russian bases with newly arrived Russian recruits and equipment. As you remember, a few days ago, local news reported about a significant concentration of Russian forces in Mariupol. Then huge convoys set out from Mariupol and moved in the direction of Tokmak and Melitopol, and yesterday a series of explosions were reported near Tokmak – exactly where Russian forces arrived. Today it was confirmed that the Ukrainians conducted several fire missions on the camps with Russian newly arrived recruits and also hangars with transported equipment. As a result of this strike, Russians forces lost between 200 and 300 men. The Ukrainian General staff reported that 150 servicemen were wounded and hospitalized, while the number of those eliminated is being specified.Apart from the losses in manpower, the Russians also suffered losses in equipment. The Ukrainian General staff confirmed that they destroyed one S300 anti-aircraft missile system and eight units of military equipment of various types. The Ukrainians also destroyed a warehouse with ammunition. Overall, this was a very successful fire mission for the Ukrainians and a very costly move for the Russians. In fact, Russian forces even started deserting after this.Today Ukrainian Intelligence confirmed that on the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian servicemen and mercenaries started leaving their places of service en masse. The situation was so severe that the Russian command had to organize a search operation. They allocated separate divisions of the Russian guard for this task and already sent them to the city of Prymorsk to conduct the search operation. But even when they find the deserters, they will likely be imprisoned for many years, which means that they will not return to the front. According to preliminary information, more than 200 people are wanted. So, in one blow, the Ukrainians got rid of almost half a thousand Russian soldiers – half of them were removed from the front line directly by the strike, while another half left the front line in fear of being the next target.And their fears are justified because during the last 24 hours, Ukrainian aviation carried out four more strikes on the areas of concentration of Russian forces, and on top of that, they also targeted two control points. Ukrainian artillery units are changing the game in the east very rapidly. Russian commanders in charge of the Zaporizhzhia and Donbas regions were not prepared for this.Previously, Ukrainians concentrated their artillery in one particular area in order to prepare it for a counteroffensive operation. So, at first, the Ukrainians were overly focused on the Kharkiv region, then the Kherson region, then again the Kharkiv region, and then again the Kherson region. So, Zaporizhzhia and Donbas avoided dealing with a concentrated effort of precise long-range artillery. There definitely were some strikes, but they did not have such a severe impact on the course of their offensive operation.However, now, the Ukrainians have gradually spread out their artillery brigades along the new line of the most intense action. According to Military Land, the Ukrainians have allocated one artillery brigade to control the Zaporizhzhia region, one for the Donetsk front, one for the Luhansk front, and two for the Bakhmut front.Now we can observe a very similar situation in Zaporizhzhia. In fact, it is basically the same as what we saw in Luhansk – the Russians sent huge convoys of troops, which were tracked and destroyed near the main logistical hubs, never getting to the front. And what is even worse for the Russians, those troops that were already on the front started abandoning it, horrified by these losses. Hopefully, this positive trend continues.