The Russian Army Is Losing A Battalion Every Day As Ukrainian Counterattacks Accelerate

[Beastly Boy]

Forbes' assessment of Russia's losses in the past three days:

The Russian army is losing at least a battalion’s worth of vehicles and men a day as twin Ukrainian counteroffensives roll back Russian territorial gains in eastern and southern Ukraine. That’s hundreds of casualties and scores of vehicle write-offs every day.

These losses are catastrophic for Russia. The Russian army barely was sustaining a little over 100 under-strength battalions in Ukraine before Kyiv’s forces counterattacked in the south on Aug. 30 and in the east eight days later.

In just under two weeks of brutal fighting, the Ukrainians have destroyed, badly damaged or captured 1,120 Russian tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery systems, trucks, helicopters, warplanes and drones, according to the Ukrainian general staff. Independent analysts scouring social media for photos and videos have confirmed nearly 400 of the Russian losses.

Around 5,500 Russian troops have died in Ukraine since Aug. 29, according to Ukrainian officials. It’s possible the Ukrainians are overstating the death toll, but it’s worth noting that recent U.S. estimates of Russian losses have been only slightly lower than Ukrainian estimates.

Worse for the Russians, in their faltering defense of the south—and total rout in the east—they’ve failed to inflict heavy losses on the attacking Ukrainian brigades. Rough estimates have the Ukrainians losing one-tenth as many troops and vehicles since Aug. 30.

Worse still, captures account for half the Russian vehicle losses. The Ukrainian army in just the last week and a half has seized enough Russian tanks, fighting vehicles and artillery to equip an entire brigade. In other words, the Ukrainian army actually has more vehicles now than it did before launching its counteroffensives.

The Ukrainians meanwhile have taken so many Russian prisoners of war—potentially thousands—that they’re struggling to accommodate them. “We have nowhere to keep all the POWs,” Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Friday.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/09/11/the-russian-army-is-losing-a-battalion-every-day-as-ukrainian-counterattacks-accelerate/?sh=202926e97628#:~:text=Around%205%2C500%20Russian%20troops%20have%20died%20in%20Ukraine,have%20been%20only%20slightly%20lower%20than%20Ukrainian%20estimates.

Unbelievable...

[Chainfire]

1. I guess Russia just needs to annex the areas that Ukraine is taking.

In fact, they should just annex the entire country while they are at it. Putin could declare victory and go home to the victory parade...

[AndyS]

2. I have two questions about the whole debacle:

1. How could a world leader make such a cataclysmic mistake as to start something like this and

2. Why did the rest of the world think the Russians were such a military power? How did Putin fool the rest of the world into being afraid of him?

[Sneederbunk]

3. As to No. 1, think W.

[Beastly Boy]

4. My guess is Putin himself was unaware of the state of Russia's armed forces

I went into some more details about it yesterday:
https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17214528

As far as the world's assessment of Russia's armed forces, I believe the world just couldn't fathom that the extent of corruption and wholesale theft of resources that has been perpetrated on the Russian Army by Russia's web of plutocrats is theoretically possible.

[Bayard]

5. Answers

#1--Putin's ego

#2--Putin's ego + his own Big Lie.

[Martin68]

7. The truth is, while the Russian military is very poorly trained and equipped, Russia still has

thousands of nuclear weapons and an enormous number of artillery pieces. They are not capable of sophisticated planning, communications, or synchronized coordination of different forces, but they are still capable of massive devastation through the use of brute force.

[Aristus]

6. I'm willing to bet the Russians haven't been trained nearly as well as the Ukrainians in anti-tank

warfare. To say nothing of the training and experience they have been getting on the job. I think when Ukraine is ready for the final push of Russians out of their country, their tank assaults will be nearly unopposed.