“Thousands of Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began nearly one month ago, US and NATO officials told CNN this week, and Russia is now struggling to resupply those forces as it faces sagging troop morale and fierce Ukrainian resistance.Russia’s offensive to capture Kyiv has largely stalled, NATO officials said, and on Thursday Ukraine said it launched a counteroffensive aimed at gaining decisive control of the city’s suburbs.US and allied intelligence assessments vary widely as to exactly how many Russian forces have been killed to date, sources familiar with the intelligence tell CNN. But even the lowest estimates are in the thousands.
One such assessment found that approximately 7,000 Russian troops have been killed so far, said one of the sources. But that figure, first reported by The New York Times, is on the higher end of US estimates, which vary because the US and its allies have no precise way of counting casualties. Some estimates place the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine at about 3,000, whereas others suggest more than 10,000 have been killed.
So far, the number has been calculated largely via open-source reporting from non-governmental organizations, the Ukrainian government, commercial satellite imagery, and intercepted Russian communications. US officials have also extrapolated numbers of dead based on the number of Russian tanks that have been destroyed, the sources said.Regardless of the precise number, US and western intelligence officials have observed that Russia is having difficulty replacing its forces, which is having a significant impact on Russian troop morale, senior NATO officials said on Wednesday.” CNN (the Clinton News Network)
Comment: The Russian forces brought mobile crematoria with them into Ukraine, presumably to destroy their own dead. Many others have been abandoned where they fell. What kind of army does things like that? The Putin government is going to have to live with the political result of that when the information soaks in back in Holy Russia. The spectacle of black clothed cops beating and kicking women protestors in the street will have an effect.
Where do they think they are, Ottawa? pl
Mounting Russian casualties in Ukraine lead to more questions about its military readiness – CNN
In Ottawa the citizens are disarmed. Oh, wait…..
Fred – We have arms. Handguns are controlled, but shotguns and hunting rifles just have to be registered.
“Why that 7,000 KIA figure trotted out by U.S. intel is said to be “conservative.”
More than 2500 corpses have been transported from Gomel region to Russia since the beginning of the war, tells a source to @svaboda. To be clear, we are talking about just one direction (out of 3), actually about part of that direction, only those whom they were able to pick up.”
This is from a Belorussian RFE report of 16 March. The 2,500 figure from Gomel alone is at least a week old. I translated it using Google Translate.
Seven thousand, ten thousand? Is there some equation you military guys use to estimate number wounded given number killed? No matter, the Russian military is taking a beating; good but now what. Send in more troops? Stand off the cities and reduce them to smithereens? Go chemical? I read that there are not a lot more bodies to be found; scratch add’l troops. Going chemical reduces Russia to a pariah state for the next 100 years, scratch that. Looks like wholesale destruction of the three big cities. Putin’s message, to me anyway, is Ukrainians will conform or I will kill Ukraine. Will giving Ukraine 100 Migs prevent this?
BR
They don’t have a lot more troops that are worth anything.
Bill Roche,
Two to three times the number KIAs is an estimate for the number of WIAs for Russians in Ukraine. One factor that could reduce the KIA to WIA ratio is the nature of the warfare. A lot of Russians are being killed inside of buttoned up tanks and AFVs taking catastrophic hits. Those poor SOBs are dead, deader than Kelsey’s nuts. Back in 1976, we had the nature of casualties inside armored vehicles hit by shaped charges like the Dragon and TOW. One NCO told me it’s nothing but ketchup and burnt oatmeal. Nope. Give me light infantry and a good e-tool any day.
Throw in that things like BMP-3s are pretty much bombs on tracks and Russian infantry seem to be loath to dismount. I’d expect that units equipped with those are going to suffer pretty hefty losses when they make contact with anything significant.
Who has a better record of telling the truth about Russian casualties?
The Russian MOD or the western propaganda machine?
Which side was telling the truth in Syria?
Good point.
TTG and Pat Lang. Thank you both. Perhaps (7M + 14M) 21M casualties in 3 weeks. Does the Russian public get anything to say about that. Probably not. So I (at least) am back to my question re Polish Migs. (1)Will they make a diff or not in countering destruction of L’vov, Ki’ve, and Odessa. (2) The issue of some 60M Ukrainian troops bottled up (in a sack) in the south remains unresolved. That would represent over 30% of the Ukrainian Army. Is this true? (3) Are these guys “gonners”? (4) Poor Kelsey.
To try to answer your questions:
1. Were the Mig-29s to actually get to Ukraine they probably won’t make a lot of difference now as most of their airfields are out of action but more importantly the advance speed of the Russians has slowed so they are better protected by their SAMs
2. The Ukrainians are currently bottled up only in Mariupol where, if they refuse the second Russian offer of surrender they are likely to be killed. To the west and north of Donbas is where the best and about 50% of the Ukrainian Army is located, they are not physically trapped but they are in reality due to lack of fuel and Russian air assets. They are continuing to shell civilian areas of Donetsk so they are unlikely to be shown much mercy. They are also really well dug in, the front near Donetsk in particular having barely moved.
3. In the main yes but the numbers laying down their arms is increasing. Part of their problem, as it was in Mariupol, is false hope, in part created by over optimistic maps. They believe that the cavalry will come to save them but it is an illusion. The Russians are carefully keeping the threat levels up in places like Kiev and Odessa to ensure that any cavalry stays dismounted. They are also methodically destroying reserve fuel and munition dumps all over Ukraine including the west where, this weekend, they destroyed a second major mercenary training and acclimatisation camp. They invariably use stand-off missiles, mainly launched from over Russia but also from ships on the Black and Caspian Seas.
The Most Vided Memory of Wars..and People Murdered in Masses..
That Made Me Understand Crimes Against Humanity.
Is All The Known Murders By The Communists In Russia And China..
At Least 50 MILLION Souls..Probably More..And It Continues in Russia
And China..Or Areas Under Thier Control…EVIL..and Diabolical…
JT