Ukraine’s total losses since the start of Moscow’s military campaign are approaching 400,000 troops, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has claimed. President Vladimir Putin, who presided over a meeting of the ministry’s collegium on Tuesday, stated that Russian troops now have the upper hand along the entire front line.
According to Shoigu, “since the start of the special operation, the Ukrainian armed forces’ casualties have exceeded 383,000 service members, killed and wounded, 14,000 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 553 warplanes and 259 helicopters, 8,500 artillery pieces, and multiple launch rocket systems.”
The minister claimed that Kiev has suffered almost half of its overall military personnel losses since it began an attempted counteroffensive in early June. The costly push has failed to deliver any consequential territorial gains, as recently acknowledged by top officials in Kiev and Western capitals alike.
Putin declared at the meeting that Moscow is “not going to give up our goals of the special military operation,” adding that the Russian military currently has considerable leeway for maneuver in the conflict.
According to the Russian leader, Kiev “has to a large degree squandered its reserves, attempting to show some result to its true masters.” The last several months have also dispelled the myth that Western military hardware is invincible, he added.
Putin concluded that any hopes of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia among Kiev’s Western backers have been shattered.