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On April 23, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation launched the meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The Army General Sergey Shoigu made a speech summering the interim results of the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Minister revealed Ukrainian losses and confirmed the recent Russian victories.
In total, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in February 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost almost 500 thousand servicemen, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry declared. The Army General Shoigu did not clarify if the number includes only irretrievable losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or it includes both killed and wounded servicemen.
Shoigu: “The American authorities cynically declare that Ukrainians will die for their interests in the fight against Russia. In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to almost half a million soldiers. The Kiev regime failed to achieve its goals in a counteroffensive prepared by NATO instructors. Our servicemen have dispelled the myth of the superiority of Western weapons.”
Last time Shoigu called the losses of Ukrainian troops in February, 2024. Then, they exceeded 444,000 servicemen. Since the beginning of the year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been losing more than 800 military and 120 units of various weapons, including foreign ones, every day, the general said. Then, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced that Ukraine had lost 31 thousand soldiers.
Both sides are suffering losses in bloody battles but both Russian and Ukrainian sources and military officials confirm that Kiev’s losses are several times higher than those of the Russian side. While the cemeteries are growing throughout the country, the Kiev is trying its best to find the fresh cannon fodder, both in Ukraine and abroad. However, no poorly trained Ukrainian men thrown to the battlefield can help to stop the Russian advance.
The Russian Defense Minister confirms that Russian troops maintain the military initiative along the entire front line and continue to “squeeze out” the Armed Forces of Ukraine from their military positions.
For example, the Russian military recently took control of the settlements of Pervomaiske (Avdeevka direction), Bogdanovka (Artyomovsk direction) and Novomikhailovka (Mariinka direction) in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Russian military is also expanding the zone of its control in Berdych and Georgievka.
The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are unable to further restrain the advance of Russian troops and they are forced to leave their positions. Ukraine’s sponsors from the United States and other NATO states urgently approved the allocation of additional funding to Kiev to save the situation, but this will not help the Ukrainian military. In response to the resumption of military supplies from Western countries, Russian forces will increase the intensity of strikes on logistics hubs and storage facilities with Western weapons.
