ANALYSIS – These are staggering losses. More than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and a further 80,000 have been wounded in fighting in Ukraine just since December.
This, as Kyiv readies for a major new counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces.
Those are huge numbers for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the White House is spinning it as very positive news, but these staggering losses appear to be only a fraction of Russia’s total military force.
They are also still within the Kremlin’s ability to withstand and sustain, for now.
This is especially true since about half of those killed, according to the White House, were fighting with the Wagner mercenary group, some ex-convicts who had been recruited from prison.
Many of them have been battling for control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russia has been trying to take the small city since last year in a grinding war of attrition.
Moscow currently holds most of Bakhmut, but Ukrainian troops still control a small portion of the city in the west. The fierce battle has taken on huge symbolic importance for both sides.
Ukrainian officials have also said they are using the battle to kill as many of Russia’s troops as possible and wear down its reserves.
Wagner and other forces are fighting Ukrainian forces house-to-house to try to gain control of the last remaining road west that is still in Ukrainian hands, which makes it critical for supplies and fresh troops.
While the reported Russia’s losses are across all of Ukraine since December, a spokesman for the eastern grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russia is concentrating “all its forces on Bakhmut, and in fact is not conducting such powerful combat operations anywhere else in our operational area of responsibility.”
In March, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers that Russian troops are “getting slaughtered” in their fight for Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the numbers are based on newly declassified intelligence, adding: “some information and intelligence that we were able to corroborate over a period of some time.”
He declined to discuss Ukrainian casualties. “That’s up to them to speak to,” he said.
“The bottom line is that Russia’s attempted offensive has backfired after months of fighting and extraordinary losses,” Kirby said. He added that Russia had been “unable to seize any strategically significant territory” despite its military efforts.
“Russia has exhausted its military stockpiles and its armed forces,” Kirby added.
This contradicts what a senior U.S. military commander in Europe told lawmakers Wednesday when he said that the Russians have plenty more firepower left in their arsenal.
“[T]he Russian ground force has been degenerated somewhat by this conflict, although it is bigger today than it was at the beginning of the conflict,” Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the commander of US European Command, told the House Armed Services Committee, according to CNN.
Cavoli added that “much of the Russian military has not been affected negatively” by its invasion of Ukraine.
So, how much of this news of Russian losses is Team Biden spin and wishful thinking? And how much is strategically significant?
Probably a bit of both. Russian losses of men and materiel in Ukraine are huge and getting worse, but still within Moscow’s ability to endure. Meanwhile, Putin’s army is still growing.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Ok, I stopped putting any stock in anything that anyone has to say about Ukraine or Russian intentions (goals). This is a “wag the dog” type of thing (in my opinion). Or to put it in Obama era tactics, it’s a “look at the monkey” distraction strategy. And, we have so many distracting monkeys to look at now, how could any intelligent person even keep track of them all. I propose that we (US public) don’t pay attention to anything, and let the scenario play out. It may have all been staged, or it may have an underlying purpose for someone. And all of the rhetoric, flying around, suggesting one theory or another, is just creating confusion. No facts, no news, just noise (and maybe that is the purpose). So, maybe I’m just an old dog that studied history, but, I think that so many things have been in motion for far too long. It shall not be much longer before the truth is manifested.
Let’s just all wait and watch. And Pray.
They are lying again, or should I say ‘still’! Ukraine is not winning over Russia! Just another ploy to get a few billion more funds and military equipment to the never-ending war! USA and others are supporting a blood bath of Ukrainian citizens, and more! Call for a peace settlement ASAP!