First Published Sep 2, 2022, 2:49 PM IST
AWar experts predicted that the fall of Ukraine would happen within weeks when Russian forces began invading Ukraine on February 24. However, with NATO’s deep support, the war continues endlessly. As the war enters its seventh month, there are reports that the Ukrainian army is on a heavy offensive against Russian forces in the Kherson region of eastern Ukraine. In the last six months, Ukraine has released the numbers of losses suffered by Russia, the world’s second military power, on the battlefield of Ukraine.
Russia lost more than 900 ‘elite’ soldiers, 337 marines, 151 intelligence troops and 144 elite paratroopers. 67 combat pilots who were trained at a cost of $14 million were among those killed. Britain’s Defense Minister Ben Wallace says Russia has lost nearly 80,000 soldiers on the battlefield.
20 people of Federal Security Service (FSB) and Federal Guards Service (FSO) were killed. Russia is also facing the loss of 67 combat pilots trained at a cost of 17 years and $14 million. However, as the war entered its seventh month, Russia claimed to have lost only 1,351 soldiers.
A month after the start of the war, Russia announced that 1,351 of its soldiers had been killed. So far, Russia has not released any information on the number of soldiers killed. At the same time, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is under constant shelling.
Lt. Col. Vitaly Sikul, 36, was killed in an attack in Ukraine last month. With the assassination of Vitaly Sikul, Russia also lost about 100 men of the rank of colonel killed in action. Footage of Vitaly Sikul’s funeral in the central Russian town of Chebarkul appeared in local media.
Colin Kall, the third most senior official at the Pentagon, also claimed that Russia had lost 80,000 Russian soldiers in the war in six months. With this, almost half of the soldiers that Russia sent to the war fell dead on the battlefield.
Before launching a military operation dubbed Special Military Operation on February 24, Putin had reportedly deployed between 150,000 and 190,000 troops along the Russian-Ukrainian border. When compared with these figures, the death of 80,000 armed soldiers is almost half of the number of soldiers who went to the battlefield.
Cal adds that this figure is particularly impressive given the fact that ‘the Russians have achieved none of Putin’s objectives as claimed at the start of the war’. ‘Russia’s overall goal was to conquer the entire country, engage in regime change in Kiev, and eliminate Ukraine as an independent sovereign and democratic state. None of that has happened.’ He points out.
Thousands of Ukrainians conscripted with the Russian army from occupied territories and thousands of mercenaries from the military contractor group Vagar are believed to be among the dead. Reports also say that Russia is considering sending a group of mercenaries from Syria.
The mercenaries are offered a salary of 3,400 euros per month and 2,400 euros as bonus. Meanwhile, there were reports that North Korea was preparing to send 100,000 soldiers to fight for Russia. But no official announcement has been made in any of these matters so far.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of deliberately delaying the repatriation of bodies and often leaving soldiers’ bodies on the battlefield to hide the true death toll of the war. Lt. Col. Vitaly Sikul died a month ago, but his funeral was held yesterday.
Despite such massive losses, Russia has yet to officially declare war on Ukraine. Even today, the Ukraine war is only a special military operation for Russia. Along with that, Putin is not ready to release the figures of losses suffered by the Russian army.
Ukraine accused the Russian dictator of fearing that the public would turn against him if the figures of the biggest losses on the battlefield were released. The Russian president has also been accused of relying on conscripts, volunteers and mercenaries from the poorest or most remote regions of Russia, conscripts and mercenaries from occupied Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of new recruits selected from these areas are believed to have arrived on the front lines since the outbreak of war. They often go into battle with little training and poor weapons.
The heavy loss of life caused by the war and the large decline in the population rate of the country caused a huge decrease in the number of the new generation in the country. With this, reports say that Putin is re-examining the old Stalin scheme, which announced special awards and benefits for mothers who give birth to ten children.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed that the Kherson region, part of eastern Ukraine, would be recaptured by the end of September. Most of the territory of Luhansk province is still under Russian rule. However, several explosions occur every day in the Crimean peninsula, which was seized by Russia in 2014.
At the same time, even as the US President Joe Biden says that he will not provide weapons to attack the Russian giant, NATO is providing the most weapons and military support to Ukraine.