Ukraine says it has recaptured more than 1,000 sq km area and 20 villages in its south and east from Russia in the past week.
The Ukrainian counterattack in the south, which was once regarded as a “propaganda offensive”, now seems to have really become a major problem for the Russian army. The latest news from Kyiv pointed out that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has reoccupied a large area of territory, while the Russian side is in a state of emergency on the front line, and there are frequent problems in the rear. At the same time, the military assistance provided by the United States and other Western countries to Ukraine has been increasing.
On September 9, Zelenskiy released a series of achievements in the strategic counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army. He said that a series of counter-offensives carried out by the Ukrainian army in the east and south have recaptured more than 1,000 square kilometers of land and more than 20 villages that were previously occupied.
The Ukrainian deputy minister of operations Gromov said at a press conference that the Ukrainian army has compressed the front line to Russia by 50 kilometers, and recaptured more than 700 square kilometers of territory. It is worth mentioning that the small city of Baraklea in the Kharkiv region has also been retaken by the Ukrainian army, and the Russian defenders finally chose to give up and retreat.
But how big the results achieved by the Ukrainian army, how happy Zelensky was, and how much loss the Russian army suffered. According to Agence France-Presse, a document purportedly from the “Russian Ministry of Finance” shows that Putin’s authorities need to pay a huge pension of about 316.4 billion rubles, which is calculated according to the 7.4 million rubles that each military family will receive, which means that the Russian army lost about 48,000 people on the battlefield in Ukraine. If this figure is true, although it is lower than the “50,000 sacrifices” issued by the Ukrainian military, it is already a very serious challenge for Russia, which has insufficient soldiers.
Although the authenticity of the document cannot be verified at present, and both Russia and Ukraine have different opinions on the number of casualties and refuse to provide true data, it is an indisputable fact that the Russian army suffered so many casualties on the front line that it had to recruit a large number of recruits from the rear. As early as the middle of this year, Putin lifted the age limit for Russian contract soldiers; At the end of last month, Putin again signed an executive order to increase the limit of the Number of Russian troops to 1.15 million, which is also the first time in recent years that the Russian army has increased the total number of troops. However, in the case that the Russian military has been facing “difficulty in recruiting troops”, this series of administrative orders may not necessarily work.
Residents of Kharkiv region who have been occupied by Russians for more than 6 months… meet the liberators of the Armed Forces of Ukraine🇺🇦✌️ pic.twitter.com/RyUNCiEJLI
— Igor Kyivskyi (@Igor_from_Kyiv_) September 9, 2022
And even though the order has not yet entered into force, Russian forces are urgently mobilizing new and effective forces to go to Ukraine. It is reported that the Russian Third Army, which was hastily built after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, was recently found to have traveled to Ukraine by train. However, although the force is highly equipped, it has a serious shortage of experienced leading officers and non-commissioned officers, which is also a problem for the Ukrainian side because most of Ukrainian soldiers are rookie too.
In addition, the Russian army also has problems such as shortage of advanced ammunition. US media pointed out that since August this year, the Russian military has rarely used advanced air-launched guided weapons, such as “Kalibr” cruise missiles, etc., but has continuously used FAB unguided bombs and air-launched rockets for ground support. This seems to mean that the Russian army’s advanced guided weapons have been “in stock” and the Russian army has to “save the fight”. In addition, in order to alleviate the ammunition shortage, the Russian army even converted the unused S-300 air defense interceptor into a short-range ground-to-ground missile for use, which shows that the Russian military ammunition is about to end.
For now, there is no possibility of a peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in a short period of time, which will put tremendous pressure on the Russian army fighting on a long line. The Continuous Aid of Weapons to Ukraine by the West has caused Putin a lot of headaches.