2023-05-01 23:36:56
- George Wright
- BBC News
The US White House has expressed its belief that more than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
About 80,000 other soldiers were wounded, according to US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who cited intelligence.
Washington indicated that more than half of the dead were among the ranks of the Wagner Group of mercenaries.
If the numbers announced by the White House are correct, the number of Russian casualties would exceed the entire population of the city before the start of the invasion, which was approximately 70,000.
Moscow has been trying to control Bakhmut since last year, as part of a fierce battle, but it is still going on, because the battle of this small city has become a symbolic matter for Russia and Ukraine alike.
Ukrainian officials said they are trying to kill as many Russian forces as possible during the battle, at Bakhmut, to deplete Russian reserves, though the Ukrainians control only a small part of the city.
Kirby said, “Russia’s plans to open a front from the Donbass region through Bochmut have failed, and it can no longer achieve any real strategic gains in these areas.”
“We estimate that Russia lost more than 100,000 fighters, including 20,000 killed during the battles,” he added.
This statistic is limited to the number of losses among the Russians since the beginning of last December only.
Kirby stressed that “the truth is that Russia’s attack turned against it after many months of confrontations, which incurred huge losses.”
Kirby explained that he did not announce the estimates of the number of victims on the Ukrainian side because “the victims are here while the Russians are trying to invade their country.”
The BBC has not been able to independently confirm these numbers, and Moscow has not commented.
image copyright AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
An old man pushes his bicycle through the rubble in Bakhmut
The seizure of the city pushes Russia a step towards achieving its goal of controlling the entire Donetsk region, which is one of the four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, which Russia unilaterally announced its annexation last September, following a referendum that was condemned by most of the countries of the world.
Analysts say that Bakhmut has little strategic importance, and yet it has become the focus of attention of Russian generals, who are struggling to provide any positive victory for President Vladimir Putin.
The Wagner Group, which gained notoriety for its inhumane methods, became at the center of the Battle of Bakhmut, on behalf of the Russian army.
The head and founder of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, put his reputation on the line, as well as that of the mercenary group, so that control of the city became extremely important to him.
Prigozhin recently threatened to withdraw his group from Bakhmut, in a rare critical speech, with an opposition Russian blogger, saying he would withdraw the entire group from Bakhmut if it did not receive the required weapons and ammunition from the Russian Defense Ministry.
He indicated that the elements of the group could be transferred to Mali.
Prigozhin entered into an open clash with the Ministry of Defense during the war, accusing it of being responsible for not providing the required ammunition to his forces, and not providing them with adequate support.
Prigozhin also called on the Russian media and military leaders to “stop lying to the Russian people” ahead of the expected spring counter-attack announced by Ukraine.
“We need to stop lying to the Russian people, telling them everything is fine,” he said.
Prigozhin praised the “fighting style and military chain of command” on the Ukrainian side.
A senior Ukrainian military commander said Monday that counterattacks had pushed Russian forces away from some of their previous positions, but that the situation in Bakhmut was still “difficult”.
And new forces are being pushed into the battle in Bakhmut, “among them are Russian paratroopers and forces from Wagner, despite the heavy losses that Moscow is facing,” according to what the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces said, on his Telegram account.
“But the enemy is unable to control the city,” he added.
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