The daily destruction of Russian military bases and weapons depots using Western high-precision supplies is bringing results. The Russian army succeeded in its Donbas offensive mainly due to its artillery advantage – burning cities and villages of Ukraine to the ground while the Ukrainian military suffered heavy losses.
But since the Ukrainian army has been supplied with high-precision weapons, in particular HIMARS, the Russian army’s offensive has virtually ground to a halt, while losses within the Ukrainian army have been significantly reduced.
On August 9, the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, reported that daily losses in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had decreased three times compared with the beginning of June.
In an interview with the BBC, he said that Ukraine is now losing about 30-50 soldiers a day, while in early June it was more like 100-200 soldiers.
Podolyak explained that the heavy losses of the Ukrainian army were primarily associated with the transition to the second stage of the war.
“A big artillery positional war with Russia began when our positions were bombarded with shells of various calibers. This, of course, increased our losses. But today, the number of losses is decreasing because our multiple launch rocket system works very effectively against the logistics centers of the Russian army. Secondly, the Russian army is being redeployed along the entire front line. Thirdly, our army has already adapted to the tactics of the Russian army and is more mobile and can defend itself more effectively,” he added.
As part of a June 1 interview, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying on the front line every day, with a further 500 injured.
This contrasts with mid-April, when the President announced that about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been injured and that that “it’s hard to say how many will survive.”
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not publish information about losses among its forces.
Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the Head of the President’s office, elaborated on this decision: “I know about the losses, but I will not name them. Not until the end of the war. Not a single army in the world names its losses during the war – it’s just not allowed. Firstly, it’s a state secret. And secondly, it can help the enemy evaluate the effectiveness of its actions,” he said.
