In its latest daily combat report, the Ukrainian military claimed on Sunday that Russian forces had lost dozens of artillery systems in one day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first launched his invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February 2022, with the conflict having since dragged on longer than most would have ever predicted as it nears its two-year anniversary. According to estimates from the Ukrainian military, Russian forces have suffered over 360,000 deaths in the war, as well as countless losses of military hardware.
The Kremlin does not provide a running total of reported Ukrainian losses. Newsweek could not independently verify either count. While Ukrainian sources might be inflating such numbers, other experts agree that they reflect a dire situation for Russia's forces.
Via its official Facebook page, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces provides daily updated statistics about losses it claims that Russia has suffered in the conflict. While these numbers also cannot be independently verified by Newsweek and are not remarked upon by the Kremlin, they also provide some glimpse into the evolving impact of the war.
According to the latest report, released on Sunday, Russian forces allegedly suffered notable hardware losses on Saturday, including 36 artillery systems, 24 UAVs, and 22 armored personnel vehicles. The report also claimed that Russian forces had lost four tanks during the same time frame.
On the personnel side, the report claimed that Russia suffered 860 deaths on Saturday. This brought the Ukrainian military's running total of Russian soldier deaths since the start of the conflict to 364,730.
"Strike the occupier! Let's win together! Our strength is in the truth!" the General Staff's post read in conclusion.
Newsweek reached out to Russian officials via email for comment.
In a recent report, the U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), claimed that Putin is attempting to broaden the scope of the Ukraine conflict to frame it as a confrontation with Western forces, in order to justify the massive troop build-ups and mounting battlefield losses. The need for such an "ideological justification" comes after Russia failed to make significant territorial gains across 2023 despite suffering heavy troop casualties, and could be a sign of his intent to engage in a perpetual conflict.
"Putin's statements likely suggest that he is preparing a long-term justification to keep forces mobilized and engaged in combat for the perpetual defense of Russia's sovereignty against the West," the ISW report stated. "Putin is likely deliberately and falsely framing Ukraine as pawn without agency in the Russia-West conflict to mask his expansionist and maximalist goals of establishing full effective Russian control of Ukraine."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
