Russian defence chiefs have showed how their troops destroyed an entire battery of Ukrainian D-20 howitzers positioned in a field.

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on 12th April that the Ukrainian position was destroyed with the help of drones (UAVs).

The Russian military claimed that it destroyed the Ukrainian unit’s D-20 howitzers and ammunition.

The footage, though, is so tightly edited that it is almost impossible to see what the Russian drones are bombing.

In the drone footage, a flurry of air strikes is seen raining onto the open field, apparently aimed at the row of military howitzers.

Meanwhile, in east-central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Ukrainian military said it pushed back the enemy’s lines and regained control over 15 settlements.

Defending forces also launched a counter-offensive in occupied Novoaidar and Luhansk, destroying more than 50 tonnes of ammunition and 40 units of Russian equipment, according to the Ukrainian military.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 49th day of the invasion.

From 24th February to 13th April, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at about 19,800 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 739 tanks, 1,964 armoured fighting vehicles, 358 artillery systems, 115 multiple launch rocket systems, 64 anti-aircraft warfare systems, 158 aircraft, 143 helicopters, 1,429 motor vehicles, seven boats/cutters, 76 fuel tankers, 132 unmanned aerial vehicles, 25 special equipment units and four mobile SRBM systems.

Meanwhile, Moscow is claiming that 1,026 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in the besieged city of Mariupol.

However, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the strategic port city, located in south-eastern Ukraine, is still holding out.

The mayor of Mariupol says around 21,000 civilians have been killed there and a further 100,000 are still awaiting evacuation.

Elsewhere, US President Joe Biden has called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a “dictator” and has accused him of “genocide” in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has praised his American counterpart’s comments as the “true words of a true leader”.

The presidents of Poland, Latvia and Estonia are en route to the Ukrainian capital to meet Zelenskyy.

However, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been told he is “not wanted” due to recent “close ties” to Russia.

Ukraine and Russia are now concentrating their forces in the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, after Moscow withdrew troops from north of Kyiv.