Ukraine is preparing to deploy another 40,000 soldiers in the war against Russia and can therefore count on additional resources in view of the counter-offensive. In particular, eight new brigades have been formed, as announced by the Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, amid growing speculation about the timing and the possibility of being able to inflict a serious defeat on the Russian army.
“The first assault brigades include up to 40,000 soldiers,” the minister said, adding that the military would need further training before being ready to take part in the fighting. The training process will take another two to three weeks before the troops can be used “in operations of an offensive nature”, the minister said.
The time schedule cited by Klymenko could provide indications as to when the Kiev attack will materialize. The debate apparently does not excite Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: “Work more and talk less”. Commenting on the statements of some military experts, the head of diplomacy said that those who support the thesis of a “failure” in preparing the expected counterattack in Kiev “are the same experts and media who, on the eve of February 24, had stated that Ukraine would not have resisted Russia’s blows. The skeptics said ‘three days’. The optimists ‘one week and we will all die’. We need to talk less about the counter-offensive and work harder to implement it. And we do it 120% every day “.
Kuleba further noted that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny and President Volodymyr Zelensky continuously hold meetings and negotiations with Western partners, with whom the topic of weapons for counteroffensive is always present.
The forces in the field are subject to analysis and assessments also with regard to the losses suffered by the two sides. By now more than 191,000 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. according to estimates released yesterday by the White House, since last December Russia has suffered over 100,000 losses, 20,000 men were killed and others wounded.
For Moscow, it is a “non-existent” budget. Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, has no way of getting the correct data. The latest death toll published by Russia dates back to last September and counts 5,937 dead.
According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Ukrainian army “has lost more than 15,000 men” in the last month of fighting “despite unprecedented military aid” received from Kiev’s allies. In statements reported by the Russian Interfax agency, Shoigu said that “despite unprecedented military aid from Western countries, the enemy suffers significant losses. In the last month alone they have lost more than 15,000 units”.