The number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine has quintupled since early February. This was written by the Russian edition of the BBC, which, in cooperation with Mediazona, has been gathering information about the fallen by examining open sources. The sharp increase in losses is interpreted as a possible signal for the start of the Russian offensive in Donbass. “Confirmed losses started increasing since mid-December. For the whole of 2022, Russian sources reported 250 to 300 soldiers killed. Those numbers doubled in January,” writes the BBC, referring to weekly data. In the first two weeks of February, the BBC, Mediazona and a team of volunteers managed to confirm the deaths of 1,679 soldiers, a number five times the usual weekly average. “This is the data collected from open sources and checked, ‘the true number of casualties is undoubtedly much higher’, it is underlined. According to the BBC, half of the Russian mobilized killers whose names have been identified died in 2023.
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On the news front, the Russian airstrikes on Bakhmut killed five civilians while nine people were injured. According to local authorities, the victims are three men and one woman between the ages of 32 and 66. The Donetsk Prosecutor’s Office added that several buildings were also damaged in the airstrike. Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk has urged civilians still in Bakhmut to leave the city immediately.
On the other hand, in the last 48 hours, 142 Russian attacks were registered on the territory of Zaporizhia, the site of Ukraine’s main nuclear power plant. This was announced by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to which “residential buildings were damaged and partially destroyed in 20 areas”.
Zelensky
There must be no peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the cession of Ukrainian territories. In an interview with the BBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that “any territorial compromise would weaken us as a state”. Zelenskyy said: “It’s not about compromises. Why should we fear them? There are a million compromises in life. The question is with whom? Compromises with Putin? No. Because there is no trust.”
Russian forces are “already attacking us from different directions,” meaning the feared Russian offensive on the ground has already begun, the Ukrainian president stressed, saying he hopes Belarus “does not join the war.” But, Zelensky said, “if it happens, we will fight and survive.”
biden
US President Joe Biden is to deliver a speech in the gardens of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland on February 21, three days after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine. The speech is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also give a speech on the same day.