Ukraine's military has turned the war in its favour by beginning to carry out more frontline assaults than Russian forces, for the first time. Commanders leading the Ukrainian troops say they are killing between seven and nine times more Russian soldiers than Kyiv is losing in battles.
Strategic Shift on the Frontline
Kyiv's Commander of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky stated: 'Yesterday was characterised by the fact that the number of our offensive operations for the first time exceeded the number of offensive operations of the enemy. But we cannot relax, because the enemy is strong.' The increase in Ukraine’s operations is likely a strong suggestion that Russia has decreased its tempo of attacks because of troop losses.
Syrsky claimed Russia’s troop losses in terms of death and injury are roughly 3.5 times greater than Ukraine’s, whilst for actual deaths the figures are far greater. Russian forces have suffered a staggering 1,352,070 casualties—dead or injured—since the war began more than four years ago.
Zelensky Approves Special Operations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently approved a large number of special operations missions against Russia. One UK security source told the Mirror: 'As Russia is suffering these losses it is likely Kyiv will want to consolidate on gaining the initiative. Ukraine has had a number of special forces victories, including several on the Kursk Bridge linking Crimea to Russia.'
'But I would expect to see more missions inside Russia, forcing the Kremlin to pull soldiers back from the front to try and secure the rear. Ukraine’s ability to attack in depth Russia’s logistics supply chains has been devastating to the effort by Moscow’s commanders and also reminds ordinary Russians there is a war being fought.'
Growing Alarm Over Potential Russian Offensive
There is growing alarm that Russian President Vladimir Putin may push his military into a major assault launched from the north in Belarus. On Monday, Russian and Belarus armed forces practised deploying their nuclear forces, in particular their tactical nuclear weapons. The exercise was just a day after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russia.
At least three people were killed, and Kyiv claimed it had struck Moscow’s biggest refinery, a major oil depot, and a microelectronics factory. All of the targets of the Ukrainian attack on Sunday were aimed at crippling the ability for Moscow to make components for weapons of war.
Battle for Pokrovsk Intensifies
Russia is believed to be gathering a huge force in embattled Pokrovsk of some 90,000 troops in preparation to try and storm the town, a key logistics hub for Ukraine. Pokrovsk has become the place for the most ferocious fighting as it forms an intersection for key highways and rail routes.
It has also been claimed that Russian commanders have sent soldiers for training in China. So far it is believed as many as 200 have received training in drone warfare by Beijing. As well as suffering terrible troop losses, Russia has also lost 11,943 tanks, 436 warplanes, 353 helicopters, and 33 warships in battles.
