Day 711 of the Invasion of Ukraine: At Least 28 Dead After Kyiv Strikes Lysychansk

Ukraine | February 4, 2024, Sunday // 13:11|  views

Day 711 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

  • The death toll in a Ukrainian attack in Lysychansk has risen to 28
  • Ukraine’s Armed Forces liquidated 810 Russians in 24 hours
  • No more easy deals for Russian prisoners released to fight in Ukraine


The death toll in a Ukrainian attack in Lysychansk has risen to 28

The Russian Ministry of Emergencies reported that the number of people killed in the Ukrainian attack on a bakery in the city of Lysychansk in the occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine has reached 28, including a child, Reuters reported.

The department's announcement states that rescue teams have pulled 10 people from the rubble of the stricken bakery and that search and rescue operations are continuing.

The Russian-controlled Lugansk Information Center said on Telegram that Lysychansk was fired upon yesterday afternoon with an American HIMARS artillery missile system.

Russia took control of the city in July 2022 after months of heavy fighting, Reuters recalls. According to Ukrainian data, only about a tenth of Lysychansk’s pre-war population of 110,000 remained after the Russians conquered it.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces liquidated 810 Russians in 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have reduced the Russian army by another 810 Russians, UNIAN reported, citing the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU). Russia's total combat losses since the start of the full-scale invasion stand at about 388,750, the General Staff reports.

Ukrainian fighters also destroyed a lot of equipment:

tanks - 6343 (+2 for the last 24 hours); armored fighting vehicles - 11818 (+13); artillery systems - 9331 (+31); operational-tactical level drones - 7173 (+12); cruise missiles - 1848 (+1); automotive equipment and tankers - 12393 (+41); special equipment - 1479 (+6). Since the start of the war, 979 rocket launchers, 663 air defense systems, 332 aircraft, 324 helicopters, 1,847 cruise missiles, 24 ships/boats and one submarine have been destroyed.

According to the data of the General Staff, in the last 24 hours there were 66 military clashes on the front, half of them in the Avdiivka direction. Specifically, the Defense Forces repulsed 27 Russian attacks near Novokalinovo and Avdiivka and another 3 attacks near Pervomaisky, Donetsk region.

In addition, in the direction of Kupiansk, 5 enemy attacks were repulsed near Sinkovka and Ivanovka, Kharkiv region.

No more easy deals for Russian prisoners released to fight in Ukraine

Russia has been freeing prisoners to fight in Ukraine for more than a year, initially offering them a pardon and freedom after six months, even if they were convicted of a serious crime. Similar deals are already in the past, writes the BBC.

Now the prisoners are not pardoned, but face harsher conditions, and instead of going home early, they have to fight until the end of the war.

"If you sign up now, be prepared to die," wrote a man named Sergey in a chat room for former Russian prisoners fighting in Ukraine. He says that since October he has been part of a new type of army unit called Storm V, to which prisoners are assigned.

"Before you could (fight) for six months. But now you have to hold out until the end of the war," he wrote.

When the mass recruitment of Russian prisoners began in the summer of 2022, it was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military group. The prisoners were offered a clean record, a full pardon and allowed to go home after six months on the battlefield.

Before he died in a plane crash in August, Prigozhin said that almost 50,000 Russian prisoners were sent to the front lines in such a deal - similar figures have been cited by human rights activists. Thousands of these prisoners died, but others, including dozens convicted of violent crimes, returned home, some going on to reoffend and even kill.

The Russian military took over the idea in February 2023, initially offering the same incentives as Prigozhin.

But the agreement meant that prisoners released to fight could go home after six months and were in a more privileged position than ordinary soldiers. This caused discontent among the mobilized men and their families.

Now the terms have been adjusted and the balance returned, and the new incentive proposals are much tighter.

From messages in chat rooms and speaking to fighters and relatives, the BBC discovered that Storm V troops are currently serving along the front line, from Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine to Bakhmut in the east.

A woman from Russia's Trans-Baikal region, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said her husband was recruited into one of the Storm V units in the early fall of 2023. She declined to reveal what crime he had committed, but said was a "serious charge".

According to her, they made the decision together for him to fight in Ukraine, believing that this would lead to his faster release.

“This February it would have been 15 years since his conviction. He had four more to go," she said, adding: "The prison conditions were good. He could have continued to serve his sentence, but it was the only way we could get him home quickly."

His contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense is for one year, not six months, as it was for previous prisoners. And when her husband's time is up, he won't be pardoned and won't be able to go home right away because the contract "will be automatically extended."

Posts on social media by other Russians whose relatives served in Storm V units indicated that they too will have to remain on the front lines until the end of what Moscow calls its "special military operation".

Prisoners are warned about this when they register, and it follows a September 2022 decree from Vladimir Putin, which essentially means that when the contract expires, it cannot actually be terminated and is renewed.

Now, the only way prisoners can get full release is if they receive a government award, become incapacitated, reach the maximum age limit, or if the war itself ends.

Instead of a pardon, ex-convicts are granted parole at the end of their time in the military. This means that if they are found guilty of committing a new crime, their sentence will reflect their previous convictions.

President Putin is also no longer personally involved in signing pardons, which means fewer unwanted media headlines about him pardoning people convicted of murder and sex crimes.

"The conditions are somehow better. You get full salary, like in the army, and all other benefits and allowances," wrote one of the prisoners.

"Chances of survival are about 25%. I've been a stormtrooper for five months. Out of our platoon of about 100 men, only 38 are still alive,” says another.

Many of the Storm V troops are trained at a training ground for just 10 days before being deployed to Ukraine. There are several dozen cases of convicts who ended up on the front line after only three to five days of training. By comparison, Soviet conscripts in Afghanistan underwent up to six months of training before being deployed to the country.

Since January 2023, the Russian edition of the BBC, the website Mediazona and a team of volunteers have been identifying the names of Russian fighters killed in the war. More than 8,000 prisoners died serving in Ukraine, and at least 1,100 of them fought in Storm V units or units.

Only those prisoners whose convictions have been confirmed by a published court verdict are included in the list. But not all convictions are digitized and not all deaths are reported. In reality, the number of dead convicts is estimated to be much higher. Calculating the number of those killed is extremely difficult, especially since many of those who die.

Many relatives are still searching for fighters they lost touch with last summer.

“This hell will never end. I never thought I'd be happy just to find his bones. Just bury them,” one mother wrote about her son in a chat room.

In the past, details of prisoners were not always entered into military databases, but this is no longer the case - members of Storm V units are now processed as military personnel rather than volunteers.

Many of the surviving fighters in Storm V are taken prisoner. According to videos, prisoners of war from this particular unit were interrogated by the Ukrainian army.

In one of the videos, a man says he has been in prison several times since 2014 for grievous bodily harm and theft.

In October, the man signs a contract with the Ministry of Defense and goes to the front from a heavily guarded site. He is later captured and explains that Storm V fighters are often sent on "senseless raids" from which only a few return. The captor explains that if they refuse to go, they are thrown into a pit in the ground and given no food.

His account matches others, including that of a Siberian woman who told the BBC that her husband had told the same thing.

In a chat room, Sergey discusses the fate of Russian prisoners like himself who are still fighting in the Storm V units. "Luck won't be enough," he writes, talking about his chance to survive on the front lines.

"I already know I won't make it," concludes the man.

Novinite remains the sole Bulgarian media outlet consistently delivering daily updates and key insights concerning the conflict. Our reporting commenced on the first day, 24th February 2022, and will persist until the conflict's resolution. Despite challenges, our independent journalism remains committed to offering precise, current news to our audience. We appreciate your ongoing support in staying informed! #stayinformed #WarInUkraine

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Tags: Ukraine, Russia, Lysychansk

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