Ukraine's Armed Forces strike 17 times at Russian troops' concentration and destroy Ka-52 helicopter overnight, AFU General Staff report

This was reported on Facebook by the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces on Saturday, June 17.

It is also stated that missile and artillery units during the day hit the Russian control center, 3 areas of enemy personnel concentration, 5 artillery units at firing positions, 4 electronic warfare stations and 2 more critical targets.

Over the day, the Russian army carried out 33 air strikes and fired 59 times from MLRS 

Over the past day, the enemy carried out 33 air strikes and fired 59 times from multiple launch rocket systems. Unfortunately, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure, civilians suffered.

It is added that Russian troops focus mainly on the Liman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka sectors - 36 combat clashes were reported over the last day.

Near the state Ukrainian border with Russia and Belarus, the situation hasn't changed significantly, and no enemy offensive groups have been detected. 

During the day, Russian aviation struck the settlements of Mohrytsia in the Sumy region and Budarky in the Kharkiv region. At the same time, the Russian Federation continued shelling the entire line of contact with mortars and artillery: 3 settlements in the Chernihiv region, 10 more in the Sumy region, as well as 8 towns and villages in the Kharkiv region were attacked. 

Shelling of Ukrainian regions

In the Kupiansk direction, 8 settlements in the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions came under artillery shelling. 

In the Lyman direction, 7 settlements of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions came under Russian fire. 

In the Bakhmut direction, 11 localities in the Donetsk region were attacked by the invading Russian forces. 

In the Avdiivka direction, 3 settlements of the Donetsk region came under shelling. 

In the Marinka direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled all of the invading Russian troops' attacks, however, 5 settlements of the Donetsk region came under shelling. 

In the Shakhtarsk direction, Russia held unsuccessful offensive actions in the areas of Novomykhailivka and Vodyane in the Donetsk region. However, 8 localities in the Donetsk region were shelled and attacked by aircraft.

In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, Russian troops hold the defense. At the same time, over 23 cities and villages were subjected to numerous attacks by the occupying Russian army. 

The Russian command has established a procedure for treating wounded soldiers, allowing only officers to be evacuated

The post notes that the Russian side keeps suffering heavy losses, which it tries to hide by all means.

"In particular, the invaders' command has established a new procedure for the treatment of wounded Russian soldiers, according to which only officers are subject to evacuation to the Russian Federation," the post says.

It is added that sergeants and privates, regardless of the severity of the injury, are subject to treatment in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. To ensure the implementation of this decision, the invaders are increasing the number of beds in the locations they use as military hospitals.

• On June 17, it was noted that Russia's confirmed losses during the fighting in Bakhmut and Vuhledar, Donetsk region, in the first five weeks of 2023 exceeded the losses Russia suffered in the first five weeks of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.