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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJUST IN: UK military intelligence says so many Russian troops are dying by the Ukrainian resistance
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JUST IN: UK military intelligence says so many Russian troops are dying by the Ukrainian resistance that it's likely struggling to conduct offensive operations and is seeking replacements...
"Russia is redeploying forces from as far afield as its Eastern Military District, Pacific Fleet and Armenia. It is also increasingly seeking to exploit irregular sources such as Private Military Companies, Syrian and other mercenaries." - UK defense attaché to the US embassy
Wingus Dingus
(8,049 posts)roamer65
(36,739 posts)South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh are ripe for the picking.
So are Chechnya and Tartarstan.
WarGamer
(12,103 posts)Hard to believe numbers but that's why they're claiming.
DavidDvorkin
(19,406 posts)It's horrible, but it's a different matter.
dem4decades
(11,241 posts)herding cats
(19,549 posts)If that's what you're speaking of it's because Mariupol has been severely decimated since the war on Ukraine began. They're honestly not sure and are guesstimating based on collapsed buildings, food and water supplies and how few vehicles they know escaped.
I read this about it earlier:
LVIV, Ukraine With some residents crushed in the rubble from a relentless two-week onslaught by Russian forces, and others dying in freezing conditions with no heat, food or clean water, officials in the besieged coastal city of Mariupol are struggling to account for the number of dead and missing.
Officially, 2,400 civilians killed in the city have been identified, but Pyotr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the city government, said he believed the toll was far higher.
We have inaccurate data on civilians killed, he said in an interview with Current Time, a Ukrainian radio station. He said the official figure represented a small handful of those killed and estimated that the actual total could be as high as 20,000.
In a telephone interview with The New York Times later, Mr. Andryushchenko said that 2,000 vehicles had managed to escape the city on Tuesday and that another 2,000 were packed and ready to leave. Officials told civilians hoping to leave to delete all messengers and photos from phones in case Russian soldiers tried to search them for signs of support for Ukrainian forces.
A battleground since the first hours of the war, Mariupol is under an increasingly relentless assault that is taking an unspeakable toll. Ukrainian estimates for the number of civilians trapped in the city have ranged from 200,000 to 400,000, with the latest estimate being 300,000.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/world/europe/mariupol-death-toll-ukraine.html
It helps to explain why they're just not sure how many are still alive there.
WarGamer
(12,103 posts)I want it finished up like yesterday.
Even 2400 confirmed is a monster number.
herding cats
(19,549 posts)Mariupol Is one of the most horrifying of tales to come out so far from Ukraine. It's almost impossible to process what they're enduring there.
Blue_playwright
(1,568 posts)It just astounds me. I dont understand this war. I mean o get how it happened but I dont get it.
WarGamer
(12,103 posts)Not in the Tet Offensive
Maybe similar to the Battle of Chosin Reservoir?
Or certainly back to WW2.
maxsolomon
(32,987 posts)There aren't any reliable numbers.
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,092 posts)but I tend to believe this because it's coming from British Military Intelligence, not Ukrainian Military Intelligence.
maxsolomon
(32,987 posts)200K isn't enough to pacify a Ukraine that fights back with top-grade Western weapons.
But what are the Russian losses? No one has a clue.
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,092 posts)but western intelligence agencies can make educated guesses, there's also the reports of low morale among the Russian soldiers, captured Russians, Russians that have surrendered, etc.
Bottom line is that the Russian Army isn't having a good time like they thought they would.
mitch96
(13,817 posts)Blackwater??? Eric Prince loves to make bucket of money selling his "unique skill sets"..
m
Pinback
(12,134 posts)And it wouldnt surprise me a bit. Although I think I remember that they changed their name to one of those fake corporate-y monikers like Remergent or Aquilant, or maybe something totally benign like Smilin Bobs Security.
On edit: Blackwater is now known as Academi, and Prince is no longer affiliated with it. More info:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(company)
halfulglas
(1,654 posts)He founded the company and oversaw its operations for so long he might have left some eggs behind in the nest.
MiniMe
(21,676 posts)I always have to think twice between Ukraine and United Kingdom
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,092 posts)MiniMe
(21,676 posts)in this post are they talking about UK or UKR?
JUST IN: UK military intelligence says so many Russian troops are dying by the Ukrainian resistance that it's likely struggling to conduct offensive operations and is seeking replacements...
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,290 posts)MarineCombatEngineer
(12,092 posts)it says UK defense attaché to the US embassy, UKR doesn't have any defense attache's in US embassy's.
mwooldri
(10,291 posts)United Kingdom often also gets called "Great Britain" (but that leaves out Northern Ireland). Internet domain is .uk. Ukraine's internet domain is .ua
Best to use three letter abbreviations - UKR for Ukraine, GBR for United Kingdom.
speak easy
(9,101 posts)mwooldri
(10,291 posts)Abbreviations would be SCO or SCOT. Scotland has the present top level Internet domain of .scot
A two letter initial for Scotland would only be decided on when Scotland does become independent. I say "when" because the way things are going I can see an independent Scotland in my lifetime.
bluestarone
(16,721 posts)Maybe, disposing ONE man would solve the whole problem!!
Grokenstein
(5,707 posts)You know, just to help even the odds! /sarcasm
dchill
(38,321 posts)iemanja
(53,001 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)SergeStorms
(18,893 posts)Erik Prince is involved and we have American mercs killing Ukrainians?
No money to pay Prince and his mercs? Putin has oil, and oil is money - big money right now - and with his connections I'm sure Prince could find buyers without ever having to touch the oil.
Just wondering out loud, sort of.
Aussie105
(5,213 posts)it's considered normal to under report your losses and over estimate those of the enemy.
It matters not, each death, be they a soldier on either side, or a civilian, is a tragic loss.
Russia must have some battle hardened soldiers from previous wars fought across Asia that they can throw at Ukraine, though? Or are they all too old, or dead?
It may be that previous wars have seriously depleted the Russian army in terms of man power and hardware.
Hopefully.
There have been so many.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Russia#
lastlib
(22,981 posts)We need you to fight and die for your country.
(and get the hell out of ours!)
Gore1FL
(21,030 posts)lastlib
(22,981 posts)...that I didn't see before posting. Oh, well, I like mine... me)
dchill
(38,321 posts)Justice matters.
(6,874 posts)Guess they don't know how much they're worth...
Get killed or maimed for life for pennies, anyone?
lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)How they get it home is probably another matter.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)May require more than one grain.
Unclear how real claims are that are being made by either side.
capechacon
(91 posts)worth remembering that many (most?) of those dead Russian soldiers would almost surely never have chosen to be in Ukraine and likely wanted nothing more than to live a quiet, enjoyable life in their home country.
The image last week of a slight, captured 18-19 yr old Russian prisoner crying his eyes out as he sat under guard was haunting. A true tragedy on both sides generated by a single autocratic nut case who should rightly be in a dingy jail in remotest Siberia.
Justice matters.
(6,874 posts)To make sure the devil will reach to him faster...