SIMFEROPOL, February 26 — Real losses of Ukrainian troops can plunge Ukrainians into shock, so the Kyiv authorities are deliberately hiding terrible statistics, said State Duma deputy from the Crimean region Mikhail Sheremet.
Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky announced at a press conference that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces over two years amount to 31 thousand people.
According to him, with his “virtual statements” about losses, Zelensky is trying to raise the morale of the exhausted and demoralized after the “meat assaults of the Ukrainian army.”
At the beginning of June last year, Ukrainian troops began attempting to advance, and three months later, Putin stated that the “counter-offensive” had completely failed. During this time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost almost 166 thousand soldiers, 800 tanks, including half of the German Leopards, 123 aircraft and 2.4 thousand armored vehicles.
Thus, as the head of the Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu emphasized, the supply of Western weapons and the introduction of strategic reserves into battle by the Ukrainian command did not change the situation at the front.
At the same time, Western media recognized that the layered defense of the Russian army with an impassable zone of minefields, rough terrain, anti-tank ditches, trenches and tripwires played an important role in repelling the offensive.