The US government and armed forces estimate that Russia has suffered some 75,000 casualties, including dead and wounded, since its invasion of Ukraine began in February.
According to The New York Times, which cites as a source a legislator who has held talks with government representatives, the figure would mean that half of the 150,000 troops that Russia had deployed in Ukraine this spring would have caused casualties. The data was mentioned in a joint and private meeting of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The Kremlin issued a denial yesterday through the presidential spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, in his daily appearance before the press. “It is not something that the US Administration has said, it is a publication in the media. Nowadays even the most serious newspapers are not averse to spreading all kinds of fake news,” said Peskov.
Russia has not updated its casualty information since March 25, when it reported 1,351 dead. Russian independent media, in turn, maintain that they have been able to confirm the names of 4,515 soldiers who would have died in the campaign.
For its part, Ukraine has also avoided giving the number of its fallen soldiers – which, according to Russia, are estimated to be in the tens of thousands – arguing that it is a state secret.
In the theater of military operations, the pro-Russian administration installed in the occupied city of Kherson, in the south of the country, has acknowledged the destruction of the Antonovski Bridge, over the Dnieper River, by Ukrainian artillery. It is, specifically, several bombardments with the Himars long-range rocket system, recently supplied by the United States, which culminated on Wednesday night.
The Ukrainian goal is to thereby isolate the city of Kherson, which would be cut off from the rest of the occupied territory east of the river. The Ukrainian army is in the process of preparing an offensive in this sector, which, if successful, would undermine Russian intentions to continue its march towards western Ukraine. If the military engineers are not successful in laying pontoons due to Ukrainian artillery action, their forces in the city of Kherson would have serious supply problems, since its airport has little capacity. According to the Ukrainian military analyst Mikola Bielieskov on Telegram, the Russian troops west of the river are the most vulnerable of the Russian army in Ukraine because their only logistical links, four bridges over the Dnieper, have been the object of recent Ukrainian attacks.
The liberation of the Kherson region, if achieved, may have a limited military impact but it could convince Ukraine's international allies that the country can carry out a major offensive despite Russian resistance. In that case, according to Bielieskov, the countries that support Ukraine could be convinced that the delivery of modern weapons to kyiv can increase the chances of a military victory over Russia.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksi Arestovich said Wednesday that the Russians "are moving a large number of troops in the direction of Kherson." The city had 290,000 inhabitants before the war, and some 100,000 would have already left it last May.
Ukrainian media affirm that guerrilla activity persists in much of the region. Living conditions in the city are deteriorating; Medicines and other essential goods are lacking, and the famine affects the diet in general, except for locally produced fruits and vegetables. Access to cash and the use of credit cards is an added problem.
