The war in Ukraine has reached day 343. The situation on the ground remains fairly similar, with heavy fighting taking place in the Donbas. The Russian military continues to lose men, while Ukraine is getting more weapons.
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The Russian Casualties in Ukraine
This week alone, Russian forces have lost almost 3,000 men.
Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Wednesday, Ukrainian forces have killed approximately 128,420 Russian troops (and wounded approximately twice to thrice that number).
They also claim they have destroyed 293 fighter, attack, bomber, and transport jets; 284 attack and transport helicopters; 3,209 tanks; 2,207 artillery pieces; 6,382 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles; 458 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems; 18 boats and cutters; 5,061 vehicles and fuel tanks; 221 anti-aircraft batteries; 1,951 tactical unmanned aerial systems; 200 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, as well as four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems; and 796 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses.
Weapons, Weapons, and More Weapons
Western countries continue to make pledges for security aid to Ukraine. As of Wednesday, several countries, including the U.S., Germany, the UK, Poland, and Canada have committed approximately 140 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
However, that number is well off the 300-tank target the Ukrainian government set as necessary to make a significant impact on the battlefield.
Ukrainian tank crews have arrived in the UK to begin their training on the Challenger 2 tank. London was the first to announce the delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine and continues to be the biggest supporter of Ukraine in terms of military aid behind the U.S. In Eastern Europe, Poland, another key country in the campaign to support Ukraine, aims to reduce the training time of Ukrainians tanks crews for the Leopard 2 tank to just five weeks.
Meanwhile, Australia and France made up after the scrapping of a deal on submarines and are now planning to jointly provide Ukraine with tens of thousands of artillery shells.
Moreover, Paris will supply an additional 12 Caesar 155mm self-propelled howitzers to the Ukrainian military.
In addition, the U.S. might be preparing to send another package of security aid to Ukraine, which this time would include longer-range missiles, according to Reuters.
The Ukrainians have been asking for munitions that can reach beyond the 90-odd miles that current systems can reach.
Same Maximalist Goals in Ukraine
In a press conference earlier this week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said there are no indications that the war will end anytime soon.
Moscow isn’t preparing to negotiate, and Kyiv would not either, since it is winning on the ground.
The NATO chief added that the Kremlin may mobilize an additional 200,000 men (the Russian military has already created a reserve of 150,000 troops for upcoming offensives), and it is continues to buy weapons from Iran and North Korea.
Despite almost a year of war with no concrete successes, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains his maximalist goals of toppling the Ukrainian government and absorbing large swaths of the country into Russia.
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Expert Biography: A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Jacksonian Libertarian
February 1, 2023 at 8:51 pm
The West is getting a bargain on destroying Russia’s military, with 50% of Russia’s pre-invasion military equipment and ammo already expended, destroyed, or captured. The Ukrainians are doing a Great job.
Todd Benedict
February 2, 2023 at 12:42 am
Putting had his chance. Now it is inevitable as he walks into his loose. All the meandering will not stop what is in front of him.
Malik Zakari
February 2, 2023 at 4:49 pm
My problem is believing the casualties and loss of equipment claimed by some authors in this blog. If you claim +200k Russian troops KIA then Russia could have withdrawn back to pre February 22 borders since it would mean 100% of their Ukraine grouping destroyed. Russia invaded Ukraine with around 150k. I’m sure that number is lower right now as they are operating on a narrower front. Please stop peddling fictitious numbers.
Andrew M Winter
February 3, 2023 at 1:49 pm
There is one metric here that isn’t ringing true as described.
“(the Russian military has already created a reserve of 150,000 troops …)”
Look we need to get some kind of real here. This article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_tactical_group, lays out that the Russian Army of Jan 2022 had as it’s offensive capability 170 BTGs. At 800 men, (which is beyond full strength) each gives you 136,000 men. But Many BTGs went in very understrength. This is known.
Ukraine is claiming, and UK min of Def is backing the claim as largely corroborated, that 128k troops have been rendered KIA. This “reserve” you speak of is NOT a reserve. They are replacements!
The Russian army has a total of 136,000 troops with 1700 tanks in 170 BTGs a year ago Jan. ALL OF THAT HAS BEEN KILLED OFF, you can say that because that number does not include the number of soldiers removed from duty permanently due to wounds. The Entire Russian Army has already died in Ukraine. These new troops are a NEW ONE with little training and ZERO seasoning. It will go worse with them.
What on Earth do you call it when you lose EVERYTHING. You call it a massacre. We need to quit pumping up Russia as some kind of Behemoth when in reality they are little more than a suicidally spiteful BULLY!
This is PUTIN’s RUSSIA, not Stalin’s USSR. At some point we need to understand that.