Russia’s ‘lost a third of ground combat forces’
Russia’s attack on ukraine is faltering, Nato said last night after British officials claimed a third of Moscow’s invading troops had been wiped out.
Mircea Geoana, deputy secretary general of the alliance, predicted Vladimir Putin’s assault would end in failure.
‘The brutal invasion by Russia is losing momentum. We know that with the bravery of the ukrainian people and army, and with our help, ukraine can win this war,’ he said ahead of talks in Berlin.
Nato’s withering assessment of the Kremlin’s handling of the war came just hours after Britain’s Ministry of Defence said ukrainian forces had killed large numbers of Russian troops.
‘Russia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February,’ it said in an intelligence report. ‘Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month while sustaining consistently high levels of attrition.’
The losses will dramatically slow any Russian advances over the next month, the report said, pointing to ‘continued low morale and reduced combat effectiveness’ as two key problems. British officials did not cite the exact number of fatalities but said Moscow’s losses will ‘almost certainly’ be worsened as tactical and support equipment continues to run out.
ukraine’s armed forces claimed yesterday 27,400 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of the invasion on February 24.
The defending forces are now locked in a fierce counter-offensive to push Russian troops away from the north-eastern city of Kharkiv and retake the strategic city of izyum less than 15 miles from the Donbas region.
if they succeed, Russia will find it more difficult to encircle ukrainian troops in the eastern region.
it is where Putin has focused much of his efforts in recent weeks after his botched attempt to seize the capital Kyiv. Holding both Kharkiv, a largely Russian-speaking city 40 miles from Russia itself, and izyum would complicate efforts to re-supply overstretched frontline Russian troops
‘The hottest spot remains the izyum direction. The enemy is retreating on some fronts,’ Kharkiv regional governor Oleh sinegubov said on messaging app Telegram.
ukrainian commander ihor Obolensky, whose volunteer force retook the village Ruska Lovoza nine days ago, said the attack on Kharkiv has been ‘destroyed’. ‘They need to try for a new victory and want to hold izyum,’ he said. Kharkiv mayor ihor Terekhov claimed victory in the battle for ukraine’s second city on saturday, but yesterday shelling could be heard in its eastern outskirts.
Local officials claim as many as 2,000 Kharkiv residents are returning home every day, believing the worst is over.
But just before 7pm local time, air raid sirens blared as ukraine’s defences detected incoming Russian fire, a warning that the realities of war have not yet abated.
The western city of Lviv has largely been a haven since war broke out. But early yesterday morning Putin’s forces sent locals a chilling reminder that they were still very much in his sights.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said a military facility had been ‘fully destroyed’ by a Russian missile strike.
‘Four enemy missiles hit a military infrastructure facility in [the] Lviv region. The facility has been fully destroyed. according to preliminary information, there were no casualties,’ he said, adding that ukrainian air defence systems shot down two other missiles.
‘Failed to achieve substantial gains’