The news about Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has been bloody since the turn of the year. The parties have reported that even individual attacks caused the death of hundreds of soldiers.
Minister of Defense of Ukraine It would be Reznikov said on Friday in an interview with the British broadcasting company BBC (you will switch to another service)that around 500-600 Russian fighters are killed on different fronts every day.
According to him, Ukraine’s losses will be one tenth of this.
Interviewed by , professor of military strategy at the Swedish Defense Academy, lieutenant colonel Joakim Paasikivi estimates that Ukraine’s and Russia’s losses are closer to each other, although Ukraine’s man losses may be lower than Russia’s.
– It is customary to exaggerate the enemy’s losses and underestimate our own, reminds Paasikivi.
– It is still possible that up to 500 Russian soldiers die in a day.
According to Paasikivi, the evacuation and medical treatment of the wounded work better with the Ukrainian armed forces than with the Russians.
Makijievka’s bloody New Year
The destruction caused by individual attacks has made headlines this year.
A year later, Ukraine announced that it had killed 400 Russian soldiers who were accommodated in a vocational school in the territory occupied by Russia with a missile attack in Makiyevka.
Russia also admitted that the attack had taken place, but first reported the death toll at 63. As the destruction progressed, the number was reported at 89.
According to Russia, Ukraine targeted the US Himars missile launcher with the help of phone signals, when conscripts would have been using their cell phones in the New Year against the ban.
– As the weather gets colder, Russia has to gather its troops in the rear in gathering places where the Ukrainians can target their attacks, says Paasikivi.
When the Russians operate in the occupied country, Ukraine can form a general picture of the location of the Russian forces. The consequences of this were seen in Makijevka:
– When Russia admits 89 found and identified victims, it is reasonable to assume that there are more bodies in the ruins, Paasikivi estimates.
In Kramatorsk, Russia’s claim turned out to be a bluff
The death toll in Makiyevka is already the largest loss Russia has admitted. It also raised criticism of the leadership of the war within the country.
Right after the nominal ceasefire declared by the Orthodox for Christmas, Russia declared that it had carried out a revenge attack.
On January 8, it claimed to have struck Kramatorsk with rockets, killing up to 600 Ukrainian soldiers stationed at a local school.
The claim turned out to be a lie. Editor of Antti Kuronen visited that school in Kramatorski soon after the alleged attack, and found the building almost undamaged. A rocket had hit the yard, and the windows of the school were broken.
There were no signs of the casualties or injuries claimed by Russia.
Soledar’s fatal faction
On Thursday, the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform and Kyiv Independent newspaper reported, (you will switch to another service) that more than a hundred Russian soldiers had died in an attack near the town of Soledar.
According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian special forces had located the Russians who were grouping up for the attack, towards whom cannon and missile fire had been directed. Information about the results of this attack could not be confirmed.
According to Paasikivi, researchers also often have to rely on conflicting sources:
– Without an independent assessment, you can’t trust either party, says Paasikivi.
– For example, the information of Russian war bloggers and Ukraine on the one hand can be compared with each other, and it can be concluded whether an attack has been successful for Ukraine or not.
The consumer war has been grinding for a long time
Paasikivi reminds that even before the attacks of the last few weeks, there have been artillery battles in Donbas for a long time. He compares the consumer war to a meat grinder.
– It caused terrible military casualties. Until July, the Russian forces inflicted them on the Ukrainians, but after Ukraine got possession of the HIMARS weapon systems, the situation has stabilized.
Last week, the battle for control of the small salt mining town of Soledar became particularly bitter. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maljar said Thursday in Kiev that Russia is sending its soldiers to attack over the bodies of its own comrades.
According to him, they have incurred losses in the thousands.
– The number of those who fell in Soledar is increased by the fact that the Russian Wagner mercenary army is completely indifferent to its own fallen, points out Paasikivi.
He compares the number of losses to the Korean War and the World Wars.
– Horribly high numbers are not completely unheard of, says Paasikivi.
– But the numbers are much higher than what we would have expected to see in modern times.
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