A wild new video purports to show Kyiv’s military blitzing Russian forces in northern Ukraine, as its forces claimed over 1,300 of Putin’s troops were taken out in a single day.
The footage of the strikes shared on the defence ministry’s X channel, shows various drone-delivered explosions at different locations captured by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cameras.
“The artillery of the “Hart” @DPSU_ua Brigade demonstrates impressive precision and power, even under challenging weather conditions,” a description accompanying the video reads.
“In the Vovchansk direction, border guards successfully delivered several powerful strikes against enemy positions,” the ministry adds.
The clip has not been independently verified.
In a separate post, the ministry also shared the latest estimates of Russian battlefield losses, as reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Dec 12.
It estimates that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has lost 758,730 troops in the country since the full-scale invasion began in Feb 2022, including 1,390 casualties sustained in the past day.
Ukraine’s forces have previously said their tallies are “approximate” and clarified earlier this year that estimates of Russian losses include personnel who are injured as well as killed.
The latest Dec 12 figures also claim Russia has also lost 9,532 tanks, 19,644 armored fighting vehicles, 31,127 vehicles and fuel tanks, 21,072 artillery systems, 1,253 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,023 air defense systems, 369 airplanes, 329 helicopters, 20,111 UAVs (drones), 28 ships and boats, and one submarine since the start of the conflict.
Last weekend, Volodymyr Zelensky issued a rare update on casualty numbers, claiming that around 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war so far.
The Ukrainian president said in a post on social media that 370,000 others had been injured but said the figure included troops who had been hurt on more than one occasion.
The war-time leader also claimed that 198,000 Russian soldiers had been killed, with 550,000 wounded, though none of the figures can be verified, and both Kyiv and Moscow are thought to understate losses.
Zelensky may have felt compelled to put out official numbers after incoming US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform claiming that 600,000 Russians had been killed or wounded while Ukraine had lost 400,000, without providing a source for the figures.
Putin’s official spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, pushed back on Trump’s comments, saying: “As for figures cited on losses on both sides, obviously, they were given in a Ukrainian interpretation and reflect Ukraine’s official stance,” Russian state news agency TASS reported.
“The actual figures for losses are completely different: Ukrainian losses exponentially surpass the losses on the Russian side,” he added.
Both countries closely protect their reported losses, which are notoriously difficult to establish.
Various estimates have been produced on losses throughout the conflict. However, there is a consensus among analysts that Russia’s casualty figures are considerably higher due in no small part to the notorious “meat grinder” tactics they employ.
Reuters recently reported that Putin’s army had 315,000 dead and injured troops, quoting an unnamed US intelligence source.
