Putin says Kyiv’s losses indicate West intends to fight Russia ‘until last Ukrainian’
The West can supply even more weapons and equipment to Ukraine but it does not have an endless amount of manpower to work with, meaning Western countries intend to “fight Russia until the last Ukrainian,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Putin commented on Russian data chronicling Ukrainian losses in equipment and personnel. He said: “I realize that this is preliminary information because it is impossible to get a complete picture of the battlefield but overall, it is clear. One can conclude that, of course, it is possible to supply additional hardware, but the mobilization reserve is not infinite,” state news agency TASS reported.
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He added: “It seems that Ukraine’s Western allies have indeed decided to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian.”
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The Russian defense ministry estimated that Ukrainian personnel losses have surpassed 13,000.
Putin emphasized that the Ukrainian army reserves have not been exhausted and Russian commanders should be practical when planning combat operations.
He stressed: “One has to proceed from the premise that the adversary’s advance potential has not been exhausted; a number of strategic reserves have not yet been engaged and I am asking to keep this in mind when planning combat operations. It is necessary to proceed from the real situation.”
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had briefed Putin on the progress of Russian forces in Ukraine. He said the number of foreign-made weapons delivered to Ukraine will not significantly affect combat operations, “especially considering the fact that the overwhelming majority of the vehicles are of the previous generation.” He added that the Defense Ministry did not see “any threats here.”
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev claimed that since Kyiv had launched its counter-offensive to reclaim territory occupied by Russia over two weeks ago, Russian forces destroyed 246 tanks, including 13 Western tanks, 595 armored fighting vehicles and armored vehicles, including 152 infantry fighting vehicles, of which 59 were Western-made.
Patrushev added: “We’ve also wiped out 443 armored combat vehicles, 279 artillery guns and mortars, including 48 Western ones, 42 multiple rocket launchers, two surface-to-air missile systems, ten tactical fighters, four helicopters, 264 drones, and 424 vehicles.”
Read more:
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Ukraine military reports ‘partial success’ in southeast and east fighting
Source: Al Arabiya English
