Ukraine’s troops withdrew from several areas of the country’s north-east amid mounting pressure from a new Russian offensive, as the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, postponed all foreign trips underscoring the seriousness of the threat.
The moves came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow’s latest operation was “going to plan” and Russian forces were improving their positions daily even as the US rushed to resupply arms and ammunition to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s chief of general staff said late on Tuesday that troops fell back from areas in Lukyantsi and Vovchansk near Kharkiv “to save the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses”.
Moscow launched a surprise major ground assault on the Kharkiv region last week as it sought to advance while Kyiv is struggling for arms and manpower.
This is not good. I was hoping the attrition would last. Apparently not.
It’s not good, but it’s coming at a cost. ~4500 casualties on RU side in the last 3 days. That’s hard to comprehend.
That’s almost same as the entire 20ish year Iraq war us troop deaths at around 4475
Not that it makes it a whole lot better, but casualty != killed. Casualty, in this context, just means forcefully removed from combat.