Turkish Hürseda Haber reported, citing unnamed Israeli intelligence sources, that Russia and the Kiev regime lost 18,000 and 157,000 soldiers, respectively. Writes Drago Bosnic
On February 2, the New York Times published a report claiming that at least 200,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine. Citing American and other Western officials, the infamous (neo)liberal mainstream propaganda mouthpiece insists this is supposedly “a stark symbol of how badly Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has gone”. The report further claims that Moscow is allegedly “desperate for a major battlefield victory” and that the Russian military is sending “poorly trained recruits and former convicts to the front lines, straight into the path of Ukrainian shelling and machine guns”.
The numbers are significantly higher than the previous claims by the troubled Biden administration. Back in November, US General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that “more than 100,000 troops on each side had been killed and wounded”. Even this estimate is considered highly inflated, let alone the latest NYT figure. The report further cites the Norwegian defense chief, General Eirik Kristoffersen, who claims that Russia and the Kiev regime have suffered 180,000 and 100,000 dead and wounded, respectively. And yet, Kristoffersen’s comments also include his own clarification that “there is much uncertainty regarding these numbers, as no one at the moment is able to give a good overview. They could be both lower or even higher.”
In other words, for the political West, this is a rather amusing guessing game and an admission that the assertions are questionable at best. The NYT claims that the figures are based on satellite surveillance, military communications intercepted by intelligence services, social media, local reports and official government figures, once again adding that “establishing precise numbers is extremely difficult”. As per usual, the US officials cited as the source of this information “spoke on the condition of anonymity”, casting yet another doubt on the already laughable claims and further tarnishing the reputation of a once globally respected newspaper.
Another “unnamed senior US DoD (Department of Defense) official” was also cited claiming that the Russian military is supposedly faced with “severe supply and tactical problems” and is “running low on artillery and other munitions”, which, in turn, allegedly “explains the Russian tactics of making up for that deficit by sending in convicts in waves into places such as Bakhmut and Soledar, losing hundreds of people a day”. This WWII-era narrative is probably the oldest and perhaps the most ludicrous American propaganda reverie about Russia. The only part currently missing is the ridiculous portrayal of Russian soldiers as “untrained peasants” waiting for their comrades to die so they could pick up either a weapon or ammo, depending on what each soldier gets.
Just how much of a numbers game and propaganda these guesstimates are is perhaps best illustrated by the data released as late as December, when the Kiev regime’s General Staff claimed that 90,000 Russian soldiers died compared to just 13,000 of its own. At the time, Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that the casualties for his forces were even lower, standing at 8,000 – 10,000 soldiers. And while the NYT admitted that “Ukraine’s casualty figures are also difficult to ascertain, given Kyiv’s reluctance to disclose its own wartime losses”, it still went with a figure for Russian casualties that is more than double the one released by the Neo-Nazi junta in December. It’s certainly difficult to outperform even the Kiev regime in propaganda, but it seems the NYT managed to do just that.
And while the mainstream propaganda machine is busy fantasizing about millions of unarmed Russian automatons charging mindlessly at NATO machine gun nests, the rest of the world is working on compiling much more realistic data. For instance, Turkish Hürseda Haber reported, citing unnamed Israeli intelligence sources, that Russia (including the forces of Donbass republics) and the Kiev regime lost 18,000 and 157,000 soldiers, respectively. According to the Turkish media outlet, the field data as of January 14, 2023, allegedly based on information provided by the Mossad, is listed as follows:
Russia, with 418,000 soldiers involved:
- 23 fixed-wing aircraft;
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56 helicopters;
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200 drones;
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889 tanks and armored vehicles;
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427 artillery systems;
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12 air defense systems
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18,480 killed and severely wounded in action;
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44,500 with recoverable injuries;
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323 captured.
Kiev regime forces, with 734,000 soldiers (+100,000 reservists) and an unspecified number of NATO officers, soldiers and mercenaries involved:
- 302 fixed-wing aircraft;
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212 helicopters;
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2.750 drones;
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6,320 tanks and armored vehicles;
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7.360 artillery systems;
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497 air defense systems;
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157,000 killed in action;
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234,000 recoverable injuries;
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17,230 captured;
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234 NATO officers killed in action (US and UK);
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2,458 NATO soldiers killed in action (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, etc.)
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5,360 mercenaries killed in action.
And while it’s impossible to verify these claims with complete certainty, they are much closer to estimates by various non-Western sources and military experts. What’s more, the figures given for the Kiev regime do not contradict the number cited by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who stated that the Neo-Nazi junta’s losses exceeded 100,000 soldiers. Leyen’s statement, given back in November, was promptly cut from the official address video.
The Turkish report does not seem to be too far off from the latest official data provided by the Russian military. In late September 2022, it revealed 5,937 Russian soldiers were killed in action, excluding the Donbass republics casualties. Either way, if these claims are valid, it’s quite clear why the political West wants to hide the actual figures, as they would show just how outclassed the NATO-trained and equipped Kiev regime forces are, which doesn’t bode well for the belligerent alliance as a whole if a direct confrontation with Russia were to happen.
