(Dan Tri) – Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Ukraine must deploy reserve forces to prevent the risk of front line collapse.
Ukrainian soldiers (Photo: AFP).
Speaking to Russia’s top military commanders on February 2, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Ukraine lost more than 23,000 troops in January. In addition, more than 3,000 Ukrainian military equipment was destroyed.
According to Mr. Shoigu, after the failure of Ukraine’s counterattack, Moscow’s forces now `maintain the strategic initiative along the entire line.`
Mr. Shoigu confirmed that the Russian army is also advancing and improving its position, capturing a number of settlements in the Donetsk and Kharkov regions.
`Faced with significant losses and to prevent the collapse of the defense system, Ukraine’s leaders are throwing their remaining reserves into battle and hastily carrying out further mobilizations.`
Mr. Shoigu also said Moscow continues to conduct high-precision attacks on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including production and repair facilities, airfields, field depots and Ukrainian bases.
Last month, former Ukrainian prosecutor general Yury Lutsenko said Ukraine’s leaders should frankly admit that they have lost 500,000 soldiers since the start of the conflict with Russia and that the monthly casualty rate is
He believes that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government can convince citizens to join the war by publicly admitting heavy losses on the battlefield and declaring that the country’s existence is in danger.
`Ukrainians must know how many people were killed and then any debate about mobilizing troops will be resolved,` Mr. Lutsenko said.
Previously, President Zelensky said last December that the Ukrainian army asked him to mobilize an additional 450,000 or 500,000 soldiers to compensate for losses on the battlefield.
The initiative came after Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in early June, but failed to make any significant progress.