{"id":272421,"date":"2023-08-20T07:12:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T07:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=272421"},"modified":"2023-08-22T06:51:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T06:51:42","slug":"total-ukraine-war-troop-deaths-injuries-approaching-500000-us-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=272421","title":{"rendered":"Total Ukraine War Troop Deaths, Injuries Approaching 500,000: US Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyler Durden \u2013 Zero Hedge Aug 19, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A surprisingly blunt and revealing Friday report in\u00a0<\/strong>The New York Times\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>cites US officials who estimate that total war casualties in Ukraine\u00a0among both sides\u00a0are at nearly 500,000 dead and wounded.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe number includes as many as\u00a0120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injured troops<\/strong>,\u201d the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0based on the unnamed officials. \u201cThe Russian numbers dwarf the Ukrainian figures, which the officials put at close to 70,000 killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

To put these grim and tragic figures in perspective, the United States military involvement in\u00a0Vietnam over the course of a nearly two-decade period resulted in about 58,000 Americans killed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Given Kiev doesn\u2019t release official casualty numbers, the US officials cited in the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0report are estimating, but it generally lines up with the immense numbers of Ukrainian losses the Kremlin has presented in evaluating the counteroffensive. But Western sources have consistently said that Russian losses are more staggering.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0NY Times\u00a0<\/em>has characterized the now largely stalemated conflict as a war of attrition, with Russia having the manpower and supply lines keep the upper-hand and to\u00a0far outlast<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Ukraine has around 500,000 troops, including active-duty, reserve and paramilitary troops,\u00a0according to analysts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>By contrast, Russia has almost triple that number, with 1,330,000 active-duty, reserve and paramilitary troops<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 most of the latter from the Wagner Group.<\/em><\/p>\n

As for Russia, the West has accused it of habitually undercounting its own casualty rates. Last January, US Chief of the Joint Staff Mark Milley asserted that Russian forces had suffered losses at \u201csignificantly well over 100,000\u201d.<\/p>\n

Likely many of the recent casualties on each side were from the months-long battle for the\u00a0city of Bakhmut. President Zelensky has come under recent criticism for pouring so many resources and manpower into what was a losing battle. That\u2019s when many reports emerged of large amounts of completely untrained and underequipped Ukrainians being shipped to the frontlines.<\/p>\n

The military analysis source\u00a019fortyfive.com<\/em>\u00a0has assessed that the defense of Bakhmut was an incredible risk and gamble which didn\u2019t pay off, and led to a very poor start to the now\u00a0faltering counteroffensive<\/a>:<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Zelensky chose<\/a>\u00a0to press the fight anyway.\u00a0<\/em>For months, senior\u00a0U.S. leaders warned<\/a>\u00a0the Ukrainian president the battle was unwinnable and to move to other defensive positions<\/em><\/strong>. Not only did he refuse to withdraw to a superior fighting position,\u00a0<\/em>he ordered his men not to give up so much as a single building, forcing them to fight to the death<\/em><\/strong>. Month after month, Zelensky sent brigade after brigade to\u00a0reinforce Bakhmut<\/a>\u00a0in an effort to reverse the tide.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Not only was it painfully obvious that military fundamentals made clear there was little rational hope of stopping Wagner\u2019s drive to capture Bakhmut,\u00a0<\/em>but many of those brigades Zelensky sent in futile aid to help Bakhmut were also urgently needed in the upcoming spring and summer offensive<\/em><\/strong>. Two days after Bakhmut\u2019s fall, Zelensky was still defiant, claiming the city had not fallen. In 2022, Zelensky\u2019s tenacity and unwillingness to compromise resulted in blunting Russia\u2019s invasion and then inflicting two major operational defeats.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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This is an interesting article which argues that Zelensky made serious mistakes in the fight over Bakhmut when the conventional wisdom at the time was that Russia was the side acting stupidly. https:\/\/t.co\/M5Wq7NQfgb<\/a><\/p>\n

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) August 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n