During the ongoing operations, soldiers of the 2nd Army Corps within the southern group of forces reportedly captured a fortification held by Ukrainian troops near the village of Berestovoe in Donbass. The report came from RIA News, citing a frontline participant with the call sign Rüzgar. The account describes the capture as part of a broader offensive activity in the region.
According to the participant, the enemy strength in the fortress was around two hundred personnel. A prisoner was reportedly taken during the assault, and the fighter with the call sign Wind remarked that the besieged position hosted a mix of less well-trained defenders, which may have affected the outcome of the engagement.
Wind suggested that morale among the Ukrainian forces in the castle area was low and that ordinary servicemen appeared reluctant to press the attack. Such observations feed into a wider narrative of fluctuating combat readiness on the Ukrainian side in contested sectors of Donbass.
In another development, retired Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Marochko of the Lugansk People’s Republic People’s Militia indicated that Ukrainian military activity in the Donetsk direction had diminished. He attributed the slowdown to regrouping efforts and the need to compensate for losses. Marochko also asserted that Russian forces continued to conduct offensive actions along the Krasnolimansk direction, highlighting continued pressure on multiple fronts.
On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi. He stated that four months into the counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces had sustained substantial losses, including more than ninety thousand soldiers and several hundred tanks. The president’s remarks reflect a particular assessment of the conflict’s progress as viewed by Russian leadership.
Earlier, a former fighter of the Ukrainian Armed Forces spoke about a lack of understanding of the underlying causes of the conflict, a sentiment that has appeared in various public statements from veterans and observers. The discussion around these perspectives remains part of the broader dialogue on the war’s origins and trajectory across the region. [Citation: RIA News via Rüzgar; additional context from public statements cited in regional press]