The war between Ukraine and Russia claims numerous casualties. So far, no escape corridor has been made possible for Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
- In the war between Russia* and the Ukraine* increases losses on both sides.
- president Wladimir Putin* loses several generals in the fighting in Ukraine, according to independent sources.
- The resistance organized by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy*, continues. Russia has not succeeded so far, the big cities Kyiv* to bring Kharkiv or Mariupol under control.
- All news and information about Ukraine conflict* in our news ticker.
+++ 07.15 a.m.: On the night of Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities reported more dead – including children – and many injured. Russian airstrikes were carried out in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions, among others. The information is not independently verifiable.
For days, opponents of the war have been struggling to allow civilians to flee the cities besieged by Russia. So far, however, no escape corridor has been found for the embattled southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. According to the Red Cross, 200,000 people are currently waiting to leave the city in catastrophic conditions. Aid deliveries to the port city have also failed, as the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk told the Unian agency.
Update from Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, 3:55 a.m.: Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, addressed the international media in an open letter. She reiterated the call for a no-fly zone to be established over Ukraine. “Close heaven, and on earth we will make it ourselves,” said Selenska in the letter published by the President’s Office in Kyiv on Tuesday evening (March 8, 2022).
She described the Russian invasion as “the murder of peaceful people”. “This is a war in Europe and on the borders with the EU,” Olena Selenska said. The most terrible thing was the victims among the children. Ukraine wants peace, but will “defend itself and never capitulate,” said Selenksa.
Unless the war and Russian President Vladimir Putin were stopped, there would be no safe place. “I know it sounds like a horrible dream. But this is our new reality. We live in it. And we don’t know how long that will take. But we will win for sure,” Selenska continued.
Ukraine war: Losses for Russia – secret service gives numbers
++ 7.55 p.m.: US military intelligence gives a rough estimate of the number of Russian soldiers killed so far. According to this, between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. This number was given by the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, on Tuesday (March 8th, 2022) at a congressional hearing in Washington.
At the same time, however, Berrier emphasized that the figures were not very reliable. They would come from a mix of intelligence sources and publicly available sources. The information on fatalities on both sides is currently difficult to verify. Kyiv recently spoke of more than 11,000 Russian soldiers killed and gave no information on its own losses. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow spoke of 498 Russian soldiers killed just under a week ago.
Ukraine War: Resistance in Kharkiv Continues – “We Are Absolutely Confident”
++ 4.49 p.m.: Kharkiv continues to be under constant fire. Mayor Ihor Terekov describes the situation to the US news channel CNN: “There are constant hits from heavy artillery.” The Russian armed forces would specifically target the supply facilities of the population. “They hit our water, heating, gas lines and they try to cut off our electricity supply,” Terekov continued. We are constantly working on the repairs of the lines.
However, the buildings that are still standing have so far continued to be supplied with energy. He is “absolutely confident” that his city will withstand Russian forces, Terekov told CNN. So far, Vladimir Putin’s troops have failed to bring Ukraine’s second largest city under control.
Losses for Russia – “Our general is dead, our radios are broken”
++ 2.50 p.m.: The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has released tapes allegedly from a conversation between officers of the Russian secret service FSB. The international research network Bellingcat has confirmed the authenticity of the recordings. The two officials are said to have discussed the assassination of Russian General Vitaliy Gerasimov during the conversation. He is the second Russian general to be killed in a week in the Ukraine war.
In the intercepted phone call, one FSB employee informs the other about the general’s death. Both complain that Russia appears unable to protect even high-ranking military officials. Communication is also anything but secure. “Our general is dead, our radios are broken,” one of the two is said to have said to his colleague, according to the US news portal Daily Beast.
Ukraine War: Russia’s army runs out of supplies
++ 1.55 p.m.: Supplying the Russian troops with food and clothing is becoming an increasing problem for the Kremlin in the Ukraine war. According to information from the New York Times, many Russian soldiers were provided with ready meals for the invasion that had expired since 2002. According to the British Daily Mirror, some combat groups are so starved that their members go door to door asking for food.
Russia has too few soldiers deployed to hold Ukraine
Update, 03/08/2022, 12:55 p.m.: According to the latest satellite images, Russia has now moved all troops stationed at the border to Ukraine. According to estimates, there are around 150,000 soldiers. On the other hand, according to the Defense Ministry in Kyiv, there is a defense army with around 300,000 personnel.
According to experts, that alone is not the reason why the Ukraine war is becoming a problem for Russia and Vladimir Putin. Rather, the relationship between troop strength and population is decisive. That would clearly speak against the occupying power in Ukraine, says Seth Jones, political scientist and vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States. “The Russian army is overwhelmed and in a precarious position,” Jones said.
Assuming that there are around 150,000 Russian soldiers deployed in the Ukraine war and a population of around 44 million people in Ukraine, this corresponds to around 3.4 soldiers per 1000 inhabitants. “You can’t hold the area with that number,” Jones told Alarabiya News. To illustrate, Jones listed the soldier-to-population ratios of other post-war occupations:
- End of World War II (1945): 89.3 Allied soldiers per 1000 inhabitants in Germany.
- Bosnia War (1995): 17.5 soldiers of the Nato* per 1000 residents.
- Kosovo War (2000): 19.3 NATO soldiers per 1000 inhabitants.
- East Timor (2000): 9.8 UN peacekeepers per inhabitant.
Ukraine war: Russia’s army records losses – Putin’s victory “no longer inevitable”
First report: Kyiv – According to consistent media reports, Russia is suffering increasing losses in the Ukraine conflict. The news portal Kyiv Independent now speaks of more than 10,000 dead Russian armed forces and around 50 destroyed combat aircraft. The Russian Navy is said to have lost two ships and hundreds of tanks and artillery vehicles are said to have been destroyed. However, the figures for losses cannot be independently confirmed.
If the information about Russia’s losses in the Ukraine conflict is really correct, the situation for Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to become even more uncomfortable than it already is. “This is a disaster for him, and for a number of reasons,” said Clint Watts, an expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the United States USA*. The high losses at the front would also affect the mood at home. “You can’t just cover up 10,000 deaths like that. This is not possible. Mothers in Russia will fight back against Putin,” Watts told the New York Times.
Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin suffers losses – “I would be very worried now”
Other experts share this assessment of the Ukraine war. “If the numbers are even remotely correct, it would be catastrophic for the Kremlin,” said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling. Hertling commanded a military unit in Germany before becoming commander of US forces in Iraq from 2007 to 2009. Following Hertling had the supreme command over all US forces stationed in Europe. With regard to Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, Hertling wrote on Twitter: “I would be very concerned now if I were the commander of the Russian armed forces.”
Due to the problems with the invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin is said to have initiated a change of strategy. Instead of a blitzkrieg, the big cities of Ukraine – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Mariupol – would now be besieged. Airstrikes and artillery fire are intended to weaken the Ukrainian army from a safe distance and break popular resistance. Vladimir Putin and his generals are now apparently adopting a “strategy of attrition,” as Frederick B. Hodges, also a former US Army lieutenant general, described to US news channel CBS. With sheer numbers, the leadership in the Kremlin wants to distract from their own mistakes. “Your bad planning, the miserable logistics and the wrong assessment of the Ukrainian fighting power” have brought Russia into a situation from which there is hardly any way out that would mean winning the war. (dil)
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