The number of Russian losses in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has passed 150,000, according to the latest figures released by Kyiv, as its forces continue to hang on to their positions in the ruined city of Bakhmut.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Thursday that 715 Russian soldiers had been killed since Wednesday’s count, taking the total to 150,605.
Its latest tally came as Moscow continued in its push to encircle Bakhmut, which Russia says would open the way to fully controlling the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia, one of the main objectives of Putin’s invasion.
However, doing so has come at a cost. The months-long battle for the city has been compared to a First World War ‘meat grinder’, with Russia suffering tens of thousands of casualties while making only marginal gains in the region.
One military analysts said today Russia was sending in ‘human waves’, only for its soldiers to be carried off the battlefield ‘like a conveyor belt’.
While Ukraine does not release official figures of its own losses, it is understood that it too has lost thousands in its fight to keep hold of the city. Nevertheless, it has been able to keep the Russian invaders at bay for months.
Military analyst Oleh Zhdanov lamented the constant pressure Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut have come under in a post on YouTube, assessing the situation as ‘critical’.
‘They are applying what can be described as colossal pressure, with wave upon wave of attacks,’ Zhdanov said. ‘They bring in reinforcements in trucks and take away their wounded aboard the same trucks.
‘This process is constant – like a conveyor belt – around the clock,’ he added.
The battle for Bakhmut began about seven months ago, but in recent weeks Russian advances from three sides have left defenders with the only way out to the west.
‘There is a danger that our garrison in Bakhmut will be encircled,’ Zhdanov said.
‘There is a danger that our garrison in Bakhmut will be encircled. The enemy is attempting to sever the routes used to supply our forces in Bakhmut and halt all movement along them,’ he said.
‘The Russian forces cannot win street battles in Bakhmut or take the city by attacking head-on. The only way they can take the city is to surround it.’
Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has nevertheless put up fierce resistance. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that defending Bakhmut can go on indefinitely.
‘I believe that sooner or later, we will probably have to leave Bakhmut. There is no sense in holding it at any cost,’ Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Rakhmanin said on NV radio late on Wednesday.
‘But for the moment, Bakhmut will be defended with several aims – firstly, to inflict as many Russian losses as possible and make Russia use its ammunition and resources.’
No lines of defence should be allowed to collapse, Rakhmanin said.
‘There are two ways to approach this – an organised retreat or simple flight. And we cannot allow flight to take place under any circumstances,’ he said.
Military analyst Oleh Zhdanov lamented the constant pressure Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut have come under in a post on YouTube, assessing the situation as ‘critical’.
‘They are applying what can be described as colossal pressure, with wave upon wave of attacks,’ Zhdanov said. ‘They bring in reinforcements in trucks and take away their wounded aboard the same trucks.
‘This process is constant – like a conveyor belt – around the clock,’ he added.
The battle for Bakhmut began about seven months ago, but in recent weeks Russian advances from three sides have left defenders with the only way out to the west.
‘There is a danger that our garrison in Bakhmut will be encircled,’ Zhdanov said.
‘There is a danger that our garrison in Bakhmut will be encircled. The enemy is attempting to sever the routes used to supply our forces in Bakhmut and halt all movement along them,’ he said.
‘The Russian forces cannot win street battles in Bakhmut or take the city by attacking head-on. The only way they can take the city is to surround it.’
Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has nevertheless put up fierce resistance. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that defending Bakhmut can go on indefinitely.
‘I believe that sooner or later, we will probably have to leave Bakhmut. There is no sense in holding it at any cost,’ Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Rakhmanin said on NV radio late on Wednesday.
‘But for the moment, Bakhmut will be defended with several aims – firstly, to inflict as many Russian losses as possible and make Russia use its ammunition and resources.’
No lines of defence should be allowed to collapse, Rakhmanin said.
‘There are two ways to approach this – an organised retreat or simple flight. And we cannot allow flight to take place under any circumstances,’ he said.
Russia’s top lawmaker said he was introducing amendments to a wartime censorship law that would increase the penalty for discrediting the army from five to 15 years in jail and extend the law to cover the Wagner mercenary force.
Moscow introduced sweeping censorship laws shortly after ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine a year ago.
A Russian defence ministry journal said Moscow was developing a new type of military strategy using nuclear weapons to protect against possible U.S. aggression, RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
The article is the latest in a series of combative remarks by Russian politicians and commentators following the invasion of Ukraine, that have suggested Russia would, if necessary, be prepared to deploy its nuclear arsenal.
Source
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LOL right! https://youtu.be/JCR-Phtgx0k
Scott Ritter is very good, his biggest problem is that he has a pathological hatred for National Socialist Germany, while at the same time praising the Stalinist Soviet Union for “defeating” Hitler without realizing that Stalin would have invaded Christian Europe in 1941 and utterly destroyed 2,000 years of European Christian civilization had it not been for National Socialist Germany and their allies plus over a million volunteers from all over Europe and also more than a million Russians who fought with the Germans against Stalin. personally, I prefer Col. Doug Macgregor who is far more balanced and has never demonized Hitler or NS Germany.