Russian forces transport killed and wounded soldiers to Crimea, mobilize retired officers due to heavy losses - General Staff

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff reported this on December 15.

It is noted that hospitals and morgues in temporarily occupied Melitopol are overcrowded, so the wounded and dead are being transported en masse to Crimea.

In order to replenish the current losses, the Russian troops are forced to mobilize retired officers and those released to the reserve. The General Staff notes that they are being sent to areas of hostilities.

The General Staff confirmed that Russian depots were hit in the Zaporizhzhia region, and more than 200 soldiers were wounded.

Also, the General Staff confirmed the losses of the enemy for December 13. It is reported that in the settlements of Tokmak, Polohy and Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine's Armed Forces destroyed two enemy munitions depots, two artillery systems, as well as six units of military equipment of various types.  More than 200 enemy servicemen were injured.

During the day, on December 15, the Air Force of Ukraine's Armed Forces launched 11 strikes on the Russian forces' personnel, weapons and military equipment and 2 strikes on the positions of the enemy's anti-aircraft missile systems.

Ukrainian missile forces and artillery hit 2 control points, 4 concentration areas of enemy personnel, as well as a fuel depot. 

During the day, the occupying Russian forces launched 2 missile strikes and 5 MLRS attacks

During the day, on December 15, the Russian troops launched 2 missile strikes and 5 attacks with multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), damaging civilian infrastructure of Nikopol and Kherson and killing civilians. 

The General Staff notes that the Russian forces continue to focus their efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka areas. They are trying to improve the tactical position in the Lyman direction, and in the Kupiansk and Zaporizhzhia areas - they are building up the group.

On the border with Belarus, the situation hasn't changed significantly. In other directions, the situation is as follows:

• In the northeastern Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv region, the Russian enemy launched tank and artillery shelling in the areas of five settlements.

• In the Kupiansk direction, areas of five settlements in the Kharkiv region and two more in the Luhansk region were damaged by fire.

• In the Lyman direction, the enemy shelled two districts in the Luhansk region and two districts in the Donetsk region with tanks, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery.

• In the Bakhmut direction of the Donetsk region, the Russian enemy shelled more than ten settlements.

• In the Avdiivka direction of the Donetsk region, the Russian forces tried to attack the Ukrainian troops' positions near six settlements.

• In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, the enemy continues to shell the Ukrainian troops' positions and civilian infrastructure along the right bank of the Dnipro River. In particular, the districts of fourteen settlements in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions were attacked. 

On Thursday, December 15, the Russian forces struck the center of Kherson, hitting the medical and humanitarian aid point. A 32-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man were killed, and three more people were injured.