Almost a year ago, Vladimir Putin (70) began his murderous attack on Ukraine. But nothing came of his dream of a quick fall of Kiev and the occupation of the east. On the contrary: Ukraine has regained territory in recent months and has repeatedly hit the invaders hard.
In the process, Putin’s troops are suffering unbelievable losses. British intelligence and the London Ministry of Defense have now released a new estimate of the number of Russian casualties.
According to an assessment by the secret services, up to 40,000 soldiers or mercenaries are said to have fallen. In its daily short report on Friday, the Ministry of Defense spoke of probably between 40,000 and 60,000 dead.
The total number of dead or injured on the Russian side was put at 175,000 to 200,000. For the mercenaries of the Wagner private army, the “loss rate” is probably up to 50 percent.
A few days ago, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace (52) made it clear what a huge personnel effort the Russian army is running in Ukraine . Speaking on the BBC’s Today program, he said: “We estimate that 97 percent of the Russian army is stationed in Ukraine.” He made it clear how much the Russian army was being challenged by the war in Ukraine.
The mobilization of 300,000 people in September also fizzled out more or less without effect. Hundreds of soldiers are dying every day, the Russians are losing enormous amounts of equipment and vehicles every day,
► Even the major offensive launched a few days ago did not bring Putin the hoped-for success with which he wanted to shine in his announced anniversary speech. Defense expert Nico Lange analyzed: “All in all, the Russian offensive has so far proved to be without great impact.”
Lange’s summary of the past few days: “Russia attacks head-on in the expected sections, generates neither a crushing overweight nor an element of surprise and has been suffering its highest losses in a long time for a week.”
Above all, “several waves of a large-scale Russian attack near Wuhledar failed completely because of the Ukrainian defense”. According to estimates, Russia lost 130 vehicles there within two weeks, including 36 tanks.
The beginning of the war will be celebrated for the first time next Friday (February 24th). Neither Russia nor Ukraine have given official figures on the total number of dead and injured. The British also did not publish any estimates of the number of victims on the Ukrainian side. But they said the rate of casualties was very high by today’s standards. This is presumably due to inadequate medical care.
The intelligence report goes on to say that the number of Russian casualties has increased enormously since the partial mobilization in September. Since then, significantly more reservists with a lack of military experience have been in the war.
An approach that Russia apparently intends to continue using. According to analysts at the Institute for War Studies (ISW), the Russian Defense Ministry could recruit detainees to use as “cannon fodder”. A recruitment of convicts is an indication that the Kremlin could be planning so-called “human waves”, the ISW wrote on Tuesday (local time) with reference to corresponding reports.
This refers to a tactic in which a large number of soldiers – often with little training – are used for an attack. Both the Ukrainian secret service and the US broadcaster CNN had previously reported that the Russian Defense Ministry was recruiting prisoners.
Source: Bild
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