Russia loses up to 30,000 killed and wounded near Bakhmut

Between 20,000-30,000 Wagnerites and regular Russian forces have been killed and wounded in the battles for the city of Bakhmut since May 2022.

Source: Ian Stubbs, senior military adviser of the UK delegation to the OSCE, during the meeting of the Forum for Security Co-operation in Vienna

Quote: "Over the past week, we have seen intensive combat as Russia continues its grinding offensive in Donbas. 

Russia is suffering extremely heavy casualty rates. Since May last year, between 20 – 30,000 Wagner and regular Russian forces have been killed and wounded in the area around Bakhmut alone – a huge loss of human life for a total territorial advance of approximately just 25 km."

Details: According to the British diplomat, it means "that is over 800 Russian personnel killed or wounded for each kilometre gained, the vast majority of them Wagner fighters."

In the face of these losses, Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin is finding it increasingly difficult to replenish their forces due to what he has termed the "meat grinder" in eastern Ukraine. 

Separately, Stubbs indicated that, judging by everything, Russia is running out of its missile reserves. This is evidenced by the increasing intervals, with which Russia strikes Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

According to him, the issue of providing the Russian troops with equipment is just as urgent: "Russia suffered huge losses of heavy armoured vehicles, which forced it to deploy 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks to the front. Since the summer of 2022, approximately 800 T-62 obsolete tanks have been removed from storage. More recently, Russian BTR-50 armoured personnel carriers were also deployed in Ukraine – rare vehicles that were first adopted by the Russian army in 1954."

The senior military adviser of the UK delegation to the OSCE noted that in connection with this, an obvious question arises: "Why is the new generation of Russian military equipment, which is so praised, absent on the battlefield?".

"The truth is that the advertised Russian main battle tank of the new generation T14 "Armata" turned out to be a "white elephant" that is barely able to participate in the parade, not to mention combat operations in Ukraine. And the Russian Air Force is so distrustful of multi-purpose aircraft of the 5th generation Su-57, which do not dare to use it over Ukraine", Stubbs himself answered his question.

He emphasised that the Russian military command shows a striking lack of competence and squanders strategic resources for small tactical victories. 

"Everyone sees the truth: Russia’s military and defence industry will be defeated in Ukraine," the British diplomat concluded.

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