Two respected analysts and commentators on events in Ukraine, former US Marine Intelligence officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and former White House advisor Douglas Macgregor, have both suggested that Ukraine\u2019s casualties are far heavier than has been acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Macgregor put Ukrainian casualties at around 400,000, killed and wounded<\/a>, and even with press gangs there is no way these losses will be replaced in the next year or so.<\/p>\n Beyond basic training, the new recruits still have to be trained to use the various weapons systems the West has provided and that will take another year, at least.<\/p>\n While that happens the Russians will continue their advance west and the only thing Zelensky will have to stop them with are thousands of inexperienced raw recruits. Throwing them at the advancing Russians will mean almost certain death, or at least wounds and\/or disability for most.<\/p>\n For there is absolutely NO comparison between a hardened combat veteran and a young recruit fresh out of basic training. I know, having seen extensive combat myself in the Rhodesian Army\u2019s Special Forces.<\/p>\n There, young recruits were not fully accepted into the unit until they had proven themselves in combat. And to do that they first had to go in as part of a four-man combat team, made up of very experienced veterans with the senior NCO carefully assessing their performance.<\/p>\n If they didn\u2019t perform as expected they were transferred to another unit.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because it\u2019s no exaggeration to say, \u201cwar is hell\u201d and first hand combat experience can be a truly traumatic experience with your life and those of your comrades entirely dependent on your presence of mind.<\/p>\n Combat can easily shatter an individual’s mental and emotional composure. Rendering them psychologically unfit for anything or, in the terminology of WWI “shell shocked”.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I do not think the Ukrainian will be able to make up for the losses they have sustained in the past year. Even with press gangs, they don\u2019t have enough time to train and prepare their troops for what is to come. At most they will have only ten, twenty or thirty thousand combat hardened veterans, and that won’t be enough to stop the Russians.<\/p>\n All of which means that NATO troops may be expected to step in IF Russia decides to push beyond eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n Finally, the passage where Ukraine\u2019s envoy to the UK seems to imply that Ukrainian losses are far heavier than publicly acknowledged has been highlighted. You can safely ignore the rest for it for it is essentially MSM propaganda.<\/p>\n While in the highlighted passage, unwittingly perhaps, Vadym Prystaiko seems to echo and confirm what Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter have been saying for weeks now about the scale ot Ukrainian losses. Ed.<\/p>\n Ukrainian Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK sent a message of total defiance to Russia<\/a> via the Daily Express yesterday Vadym Prystaiko insisted his countrymen would fight to the last man before they entered into any negotiation from a position of weakness. He sent a blunt and distinctly undiplomatic message to the Russian elite<\/a>, unprintable in direct translation and best expressed as, “**** Off…please.”<\/p>\n He was sceptical of reports that Ukraine<\/a> might be willing to cede Crimea<\/a> in a peace negotiation and insisted Russia<\/a> must first remove itself from all Ukrainian territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said: “We cannot negotiate with people who came and killed our people and destroyed our nation.<\/p>\n “For us the resolution is the Russians have to get away from our lands.<\/p>\n “So we have to fight to the very last of them or the very unfortunately the last of us as well.<\/p>\n “After the war is over we have to co-exist with the Russians. This is where we want to negotiate because the lives of our next generation will depend on the outcome of these decisions. Unfortunately, the current generation will have to fight.”<\/p>\n He spoke of the reported 40,000-strong “storm brigades” being prepared for a spring offensive against the Russians.<\/p>\n He said: “Whoever says there are 40,000 men in these brigades I would like to point out we have mobilised a million men.<\/p>\n “The men will be better trained, better equipped and work with better intelligence than the Red Army. They will be a much more flexible fighting force.<\/p>\n “Our counter-offensive might put us in a higher position where any negotiations with the Russians would be more successful.<\/p>\n “We have proved by our actions and by many lost lives that we are not negotiating peace on Russian terms, we want our terms to be heard.<\/p>\n “Our terms are quite easy first of all: get out of our lands.<\/p>\n “The easiest message to send to Russia<\/a> is: “Get away from us.”<\/p>\n “We have a saying in Ukraine<\/a> which is almost universal among the people. It is “Go away, please.<\/p>\n “The accent is on the word please but the other word we are actually using is not for the paper. A better translation would in fact be “**** Off…please,”.<\/p>\n He went on: “We don’t want to be a part of the Russian project any more. It is not attractive to us.<\/p>\n “They are looking for greatness. We just want to survive, we want to live and we will fight with everything we have.<\/p>\n “Russia<\/a> has bitten off more than it can chew with the invasion of Ukraine<\/a>. We are a bigger country than they are used to attacking.<\/p>\n “They are still talking in terms of great power, nuclear deterrence, assured destruction.<\/p>\n “We Ukrainians say no to this, no thank you.”<\/p>\n Mr Prystaiko, a 53-year-old father of two grown-up sons, said he was encouraged by the NATO response to President Putin’s nuclear sabre rattling and the recent Russian threat to send nuclear weapons to Belarus.<\/p>\n He said: “The two countries in the world which have real first-hand experience of a nuclear catastrophe are Japan in World War II and Ukraine<\/a> because of Chernobyl.<\/p>\n “Believe me, we know exactly what is being threatened. But what would you expect us to do, stop fighting because Putin keeps playing this card?<\/p>\n “We cannot. In fact a poll of the Ukrainian people asked if there was a nuclear attack should we stop fighting and 82% said no, we fight on. We have no choice.<\/p>\n “The Nato powers refused to say exactly what their retaliation would be if Putin used nuclear weapons but they said in effect: “We dare you”. I thought this was quite a good answer.”<\/p>\n “But this is where we differ from the Russians again. Every Ukrainian life to us is precious.<\/p>\n “The Russian elite do not seem to care how many of their soldiers are killed.”<\/p>\nDefiant Ukraine ambassador warns Putin ‘we’ll fight to the last of us or the last of you’<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Robert Kellaway \u2013 The Daily Express April 6, 2023<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Ukraine-Ambassador-Ambassador-Vadym-Prystaiko.jpg\")
<\/a>The Ukrainian determination to fight on in the face of mounting losses was brought home when Mr Prystaiko was asked how many of Ukraine<\/a>‘s military personnel and civilians had died in the war.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Visibly saddened at the thought, he said: “It has been our policy from the start not to discuss our losses.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
“When the war is over we will acknowledge this. I think it will be a horrible number.<\/strong><\/h2>\n