Russia’s Defence Ministry said its troops advanced some 9 kilometres and would press forward after the deadly urban battle in the eastern Donetsk region…reports Asian Lite News
The UK Ministry of Defence said the number of dead and wounded reflects Moscow’s commitment to “attritional warfare”.
More than 355,000 Russian personnel have been killed and wounded in the Ukraine war, according to the UK MoD.
In its daily update published on Sunday, the UK Ministry of Defence estimated that the average daily number of Russian casualties throughout February was the highest since the start of the invasion.
It put the figure at 983 casualties per day.
Both Kyiv and Moscow shroud their causality counts in secrecy, due to the effects they can have on army morale, populations at home and how the war is perceived abroad. Each side can overestimate the number of enemy dead and wounded, meanwhile.
Writing on X, the UK MoD said the mounting Russian casualties reflect Moscow’s “commitment to mass and attritional warfare.” “Although costly in terms of human life, the resulting effect has increased the pressure on Ukraine’s position across the frontline,” it added.
It is unclear how the UK MoD counts the number of Russian dead and wounded. In February, Russian forces captured the Ukrainian town of Adviivka – their biggest gain in many months – after one of the most intense battles of the war.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its troops advanced some 9 kilometres and would press forward after the deadly urban battle in the eastern Donetsk region.
On 25 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
“Not 300,000, not 150,000, not whatever Putin and his deceitful circle have been lying about. But nevertheless, each of these losses is a great sacrifice for us,” he said in Kyiv.
It was the first time Ukraine confirmed the number of its losses, but Zelenskyy did not disclose the number of troops that were wounded or missing. Ukraine’s number one said no exact figure would be given until the war ended. Russia has provided few official casualty figures.
The most recent data from the Defense Ministry, published in January 2023, pointed to just over 6,000 deaths.
Slovak FM says sanctions won’t solve Russia-Ukraine crisis
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar has said that his country opposes imposing sanctions on Russia and won’t send any weapons or troops to Ukraine to escalate the war.
“Sanction hurts even more the European Union than the Russian economy,” he told reporters on Saturday after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in the southern Turkish city.
“We will not support any other sanction which will hurt more Slovakia than Russia,” he noted.
“As the new government of Slovakia, we will not deliver any weapons from the warehouses of Slovakia force to Ukraine,” said Blanar, noting that his government halted sending a package of weapons that cost around 40 million euros to Ukraine.
“Our position is more clear now than before because the frontier doesn’t move, and we are calling for ceasefire and peace talking process which is the only solution of this crisis,” he told reporters.
His remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that “everything that is necessary” must be done to ensure the defeat of Russia, including deploying troops.
In response to Macron’s remarks, Lavrov on Friday said Macron did not misspeak over the possibility of NATO sending troops to Ukraine, noting that the troops were already there unofficially.
Macron’s remarks have been rejected by several NATO countries, who said that they had no plans to send troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
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