Kiev has lost more than 17,000 servicemen this month alone, according to Russian Defense Ministry
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu chairs a meeting of the ministry’s board at the National Defence Management Centre in Moscow, Russia, September 26, 2023 © Vadim Savitskiy / Russian Defense Ministry via Sputnik
Facing pressure from its Western backers to demonstrate some tangible battleground results, Kiev continues to throw untrained soldiers into the meat grinder, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting of ministry officials on Tuesday.
“Despite the absence of any significant results of the so-called counteroffensive, Ukraine’s Western handlers are not backing down from their inhuman principle of “arms as a path to peace’,” Shoigu told a regular briefing of senior military officials.
Kiev does not disclose statistics about its military losses, but according to Moscow’s estimates, the number of Ukrainian servicemen killed since the counteroffensive began has now surpassed 83,000, with at least 17,000 killed in September alone.
“The United States and its allies continue to arm the Ukrainian armed forces, while the Kiev regime continues to throw untrained soldiers into senseless assaults and slaughter,” the defense minister noted, adding that such “cynical actions by the West and their henchmen in Kiev are only pushing Ukraine towards self-destruction.”
Washington and its allies sent billions of dollars in direct military aid to Kiev since fighting with Russia escalated in February 2022, including dozens of shipments of heavy weapons, vehicles, and munitions. The latest deliveries have featured the first round of US Abrams main battle tanks, 31 of which were authorized for Ukraine early this year.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West that arms shipments to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict and inflict more civilian suffering, but will not change the outcome.
Evan as Ukraine’s Western backers have become increasingly skeptical about the prospects for the operation, the continue to pour weapons into the country, “blinded” by a goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” upon Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently told the UN General Assembly.
