A destroyed Russia tank in the liberated village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, September 19, 2022 (CNN)

Saturday’s Coverage: Russia Charges US Journalist Gershkovich With Espionage

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1853 GMT:

Actress Liya Akhedzhakova has left Russia’s Sovremennik Theater after a 46-year career.

Akhedzhakova’s last performance was canceled on February 8, as the actress was criticized for her opposition to Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

The theater said Akhedzhakova was “unwell”, but she said the theater’s director complained to her that he was “literally overwhelmed by angry letters condemning her”.

UPDATE 1145 GMT:

Vitaly Votanovsky, a former Russian army officer who has documented the burials of Russian troops and Wagner Group mercenaries killed in Ukraine, has fled the country.

Votanovsky was arrested in February 2022, on the day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, after he protested in clothes with the inscriptions “No to Putin!” and “No to war!”.

After his release from jail, he began to travel around the Krasnodar region in southwest Russia, visiting every graveyard.

He told the BBC that since December Russia’s battlefield losses “multiplied by several times”.

Deaths have simply skyrocketed. And recently, at the cemeteries, the graves have been all mobilized soldiers and Wagner guys. There have been very few [regular troops].

Having received death threats and been offered “a spot at the cemetery”, he decided to flee after a police officer told him to “get ready. It’s coming.”

He is in Armenia and plans to ask for political asylum in Germany.

UPDATE 1123 GMT:

Luke Harding of The Guardian reports from the coastal town of Ochakiv — population 7,000 — in southern Ukraine, attacked by Russian forces who occupy the nearby Kinburn Spit.

Early Friday, the Russians bombarded Ochakiv with 72 rockets, including thermite munitions, with another 50 on the surrounding area. Two people were injured, one seriously.

Serhii Kaminiev, a coffee shop owner in the central market, said, “They are swine, savages. They are killing peaceful people.”

One Grad rocket set afire the roof of a business selling clothes, destroying the pavilion was a twisted ruin and leaving charred T-shirts in a heap.

UPDATE 0735 GMT:

Ukrainian children who have been returned from deportation to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea have been speaking about their experience.

The organization Save Ukraine reunited the children with relatives on Saturday, bringing them across the border from Belarus.

Dasha Rakk, 13, said she and her twin sister agreed to leave Russian-occupied Kherson city in southern Ukraine last year because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. They thought they were going to a holiday camp in Crimea for a few weeks. But once there, Russian officials said the children would be staying.

“They said we will be adopted, that we will get guardians,” she said. “When they first told us we will stay longer, we all started crying.”

Dasha’s mother Natalia said she travelled from Ukraine to Crimea via Poland, Belarus, and Moscow to get her daughters.

It was terribly difficult but we kept on going. We did not sleep at nights. We slept sitting up.

It was heartbreaking to look at children left behind who were crying behind the fence.

Ukrainian officials estimates 19,500 children have been forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea during the invasion.

UPDATE 0644 GMT:

Two Russian missiles destroyed a private residence in Zaporizhzhia city on Saturday, killing a 50-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl.

At least a dozen nearby buildings were damaged. Two people were injured, one of whom is being treated in hospital.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has lost more than 10,000 armored vehicles and equipment in its invasion of Ukraine — and that is only those for which photo or video evidence is available.

The military analysis site Oryx adds, “The amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here.”

Of the 10,005 documented losses, 6,473 were destroyed, 304 damaged, 394 abandoned, and 2,834 captured.

The list includes 1.928 tanks: 1,168 destroyed, 100 damaged, 106 abandoned, and 554 captured.

The Ukrainian military claims 3,636 tanks — 27% of Russia’s force — have been lost.

Oryx reports the loss 827 armored fighting vehicles: 518 destroyed, 14 damaged, 30 abandoned, and 265 captured.

Of 2,284 infantry fighting vehicles, 1,476 have been destroyed, 69 damaged, 127 abandoned, and 610 captured.

There are also 304 armored personnel carriers; 44 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles; 189 infantry mobility vehicles; 241 command posts and communications stations; 299 engineering vehicles and equipment; 37 self-propelled anti-tank systems; 97 artillery support vehicles and equipment; 487 artillery pieces; and 192 multiple rocket launchers.