More than 26,000 Ukrainian service members have been killed in action, the Russian president has said
A destroyed Ukrainian tank in Kharkov Region. © Sputnik
The Ukrainian military has failed in its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russia, losing tens of thousands of service members in the process, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
On Sunday, Putin met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg, who said, citing US intelligence assessment, that the Ukrainian military has sustained 26,000 “irreplaceable losses.” “It’s more than that,” Putin replied.
In addition to this, Russian forces have eliminated numerous foreign fighters in Ukraine, he said. “Foreign mercenaries… are also suffering significant losses. Because of their stupidity.”
The public in the countries whose governments send people to the war zone… should also know what is happening there. And we will inform the people about it so they can assess the actions of their policymakers.
Putin recently described Ukraine’s losses during the counteroffensive – which Moscow says has failed to gain any ground – as “catastrophic” and exceeding Russia’s by a factor of ten.
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In recent months, Russia has launched missile strikes on facilities accommodating foreign mercenaries which Moscow considers “legitimate military targets.” According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Moscow’s forces have eliminated around 4,990 foreign mercenaries, with another 4,910 scrambling to flee the embattled country.
