In the past two weeks, Russia has seen perhaps its biggest losses since the first weeks of the invasion. The United Kingdom says this based on figures from the Ukrainian General Staff. Over the past seven days, according to the figures, there has been an average of 824 Russian deaths or injuries per day. That is four times as much as during the months of June and July.
The increase comes as Russia has launched a “major offensive”, Kiev reports. Oleksij Danilov, the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, said Russia had “major problems” with the campaign. “Our troops are defending themselves very well against the attack.” The biggest fighting has taken place in the Ukrainian city of Bachmut in recent weeks.
Wagner Russian mercenary army boss Yevgeny Prigozhin credited his group for the offensive on Bachmut and downplayed the role of the Russian army: “In a radius of 50 km there are only Wagner fighters,” he wrote. The statement highlights long-standing tensions between the Russian military and Wagner. When the city of Soledar was taken in January, Prigozhin claimed his fighters were in full control and boasted that only his troops participated. The Russian Ministry of Defense questioned this.
Lack of coordination
According to Ukrainian data, 824 Russian losses per day are more than four times as many as in June and July. Then about 172 Russian soldiers died every day. The Ukrainian army claims to have killed 137,780 Russian soldiers since the start of the large-scale invasion.
The British Ministry of Defense pointed out that the recent increase could be due to “a range of factors, including a lack of trained personnel, coordination and resources across the front”.
Ukraine is also suffering heavy losses, the UK reports, although there are no verified figures on the number of soldiers killed on their side. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Western countries to quickly send heavy weapons to Ukraine in response to these losses. With this he hopes to repel the expected offensive that will start on the anniversary of the conflict, February 24.
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