With the onset of winter in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky drew public attention to the particularly difficult situation of soldiers at the front. “Now, when things are so difficult, when conditions are so difficult, we should all be especially grateful to those who maintain the defense of our country,” Zelensky said in his video address Sunday night.
Zelensky particularly mentioned soldiers “in positions, posts and mobile fire squads.” All are deployed in winter conditions to “protect Ukraine, the life of our state and our independence”.
A severe snowstorm hit the entire Ukrainian Black Sea coast on Sunday and caused significant problems in many places. In addition to power supplies in some areas, road traffic also collapsed, while central parts of the country initially had to contend with cold and hail. The snowstorm also paralyzed traffic and public life on the Crimean peninsula, which was occupied by Russia and annexed in violation of international law.
In the winter of the previous year, the Russian military tried to pressure the Ukrainian population with air strikes against the country’s energy infrastructure. Official Kiev expects a similar scenario this winter.
Ukrainian authorities, however, reported heavy losses inflicted by the army on the Russian invaders in the previous week. “6,260 occupants and 672 units of weapons and military technology were destroyed,” the Unian agency said, citing Deputy Defense Minister Olexandr Pavlyuk, on Sunday. Weapon systems destroyed included 78 tanks, 113 armored personnel carriers and 130 artillery systems.
The information could not be independently verified. In the daily updated list of Russian losses in Ukraine since the start of the war, the Ukrainian General Staff on Sunday listed 324,830 soldiers who were killed or wounded. The number of Russian Armed Forces tanks destroyed so far was 5,513. The Ukrainian military also claims to have shot down 5,900 drones in response to Russian airstrikes. This information also cannot be verified.
Neither Kiev nor Moscow publish the actual losses of their armed forces. Last summer, American experts estimated Russian losses at around 120,000 dead and 180,000 injured; On the Ukrainian side, 70,000 soldiers were killed and around 120,000 injured.