RTWed, 10 Jan 2024 07:48 UTC
© Genya SAVILOV / AFPUkrainian medics from the 5th assault brigade treat a wounded Ukrainian serviceman at a stabilization point, in an undisclosed area.
The number of severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers streaming from the frontline has soared by 30% with many of them crippled for life, ABC News reported on Tuesday, citing the head of a major hospital.
Russian forces now enjoy key advantages, including a greater number of drones, the capability to counter Kiev's own unmanned aerial vehicles as well as larger stocks of ammo, unnamed soldiers have told the outlet.
Dr. Sergey Ryzhenko of the Mechnikov Hospital in Dnepr, one of the oldest and largest in Ukraine, told the broadcaster the facility is now taking in between 40 and 100 seriously wounded service members a day, a 30% increase on previous casualty figures.
His team is performing between 50 and 100 surgical procedures per day on the soldiers, many of which are amputations.Doctors at the hospital have performed amputations on about 3,000 service members since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Ryzhenko told the outlet.ABC also spoke with a Ukrainian amputee who lost his arm in a Russian drone strike, noting that these weapons have become one of the most dangerous in Moscow's arsenal.
Ukraine is heavily dependent on its Western backers for military supplies. The US has struggled to approve further funding for Ukraine due to Republican opposition in Congress; additionally, the EU has so far been unable to greenlight €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid for Kiev because of Hungary's veto.
Ukraine has been reluctant to release the official data of its battlefield losses but it recently announced plans to mobilize an additional 500,000 troops.The conscription campaign, which has been underway since the early days of the conflict, has been marred by draft dodging and corruption.
Ukraine's former Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko suggested that Kiev might convince the population to join the fight by revealing the true scale of its losses, which he estimated at 500,000, or 30,000 a month.Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukraine had lost 383,000 troops since late February 2022, and on Tuesday he stated that Kiev's casualties in 2023 alone reached 215,000 soldiers. According to Moscow, Ukraine suffered particularly heavy losses during its botched summer counteroffensive that failed to gain any significant ground.
Comment: The article admits to Ukrainian losses, and even more losses recently. A question is whether it is real. We know that the Biden administration has been looking for money, but did not find quite what was hoped for. Those who did not support more funding need to be told how needed it is. That is only possible to infer from the RT article from knowing the unstated context. If one tries to find the
original article this becomes clearer.
Leading House Republicans and the Biden administration are still locked in negotiations on what additional measures should be implemented at the US border. Those talks are linked to a wider funding deal for Ukraine.
If additional U.S. funding for Ukraine is not agreed soon, then the fear for local officials is that Ukrainian casualties in the war will mount further.
ABC needs to boost support for NATO too, so they continue:
Vitaliy, 32, who is originally from Latvia, was being treated for major shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs.
He said he came to fight for Ukraine at the beginning of the war because he didn't want Moscow to threaten his country, which is a member of the European Union and the NATO alliance. [...]
He said he believes that if Russia defeats Ukraine and takes control of wider areas of the country the Kremlin will not stop there.
"The Russians definitely would go further," he said, and "continue to invade countries."
ABC will not tell their readers how this war began, what contribution the US and their states in Europe made to the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, and all that followed, or how US-led NATO built up tensions in Europe over decades. The story of ABC concerning Russia can be found in most European media with few exceptions, and since people have been exposed to this daily for years on end, their beliefs are still mostly intact.
See also:
People die at the front, that is what the article confirms. The front line has changed very little, as the daily reports are about this or that tree line having been gained or lost. An increased number of casualties often indicates an intensification of fighting. It can also mean that the logistics are worse and that the injured arrive a longer time after having received the injury. The distance to the frontline from Dnepr is from 80 km and up to around 250 km.
When soldiers are injured or die, there is a need for replacements. Perhaps that explains why:
Short clips of forced mobilization keep coming from Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov - areas where traditionally many Russian-speaking people live. The videos typically show people taken off the street, bus, fitness center, club, or at home. Similarly in Western Ukraine, where there are ethnic Slovakians and Hungarians. Some might say that these videos only reflect that the Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians do not dare to protest being carried away, record a video, or that their videos are not uploaded, thus not noticed. Nevertheless, a situation like the current one in Ukraine offers many opportunities to adjust the demographic distribution according to political aims.
Will the situation for the conflict in Ukraine change as violence erupts elsewhere, especially following the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which now has spread to involve the US and the UK in Yemen, again:
2024 may bring some changes to Ukraine, if not on the battlefield then in people's perception. From the last few days there are:
In a speech on Sunday, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom hailed his country's expected membership in NATO as "the biggest change in Swedish security policy in more than 200 years."
Billstrom warned:
"Russia will constitute a serious threat to the security of Sweden and Europe for the foreseeable future. Stockholm must be realistic and assume - and be prepared for - a drawn-out confrontation."
Echoing the sentiment, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said, "war can also come to us," claiming that Ukraine is acting as "Europe's shield" in the conflict with Russia.
It takes time for politicians to see the light of day:
Slovakia's Robert Fico has slammed "stupid liberal demagogues" who still support military aid to Kiev...
Funding and arming Ukraine is a "futile waste of human resources and money" that will serve only to fill Ukrainian cemeteries with "thousands of dead soldiers," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday. Fico's article was a rebuttal to his country's president, who has urged him to send weapons to Kiev.
If one compares the statement of Robert Fico with that of the Swedish war hawks there appears to be a potential in Sweden to add "thousands of dead soldiers," some of whom near the end would end up in a hospital like that in the Ukrainian city of Dnepr.
Comment: The article admits to Ukrainian losses, and even more losses recently. A question is whether it is real. We know that the Biden administration has been looking for money, but did not find quite what was hoped for. Those who did not support more funding need to be told how needed it is. That is only possible to infer from the RT article from knowing the unstated context. If one tries to find the original article this becomes clearer. ABC needs to boost support for NATO too, so they continue: ABC will not tell their readers how this war began, what contribution the US and their states in Europe made to the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, and all that followed, or how US-led NATO built up tensions in Europe over decades. The story of ABC concerning Russia can be found in most European media with few exceptions, and since people have been exposed to this daily for years on end, their beliefs are still mostly intact.
See also:
- 'Momentary lapse of honesty?' US Defense Sec. Esper gaffes NATO must 'avoid peace in Europe'
- US commander of NATO forces in Europe insists Euro-Atlantic vassals maintain hostile relations with Russia
- Europe needs 'NATO healthcare' to deal with Covid-like crises - German health minister
- 'EU can't defend Europe': Stoltenberg fires away at Macron's 'brain-dead' NATO caricature
People die at the front, that is what the article confirms. The front line has changed very little, as the daily reports are about this or that tree line having been gained or lost. An increased number of casualties often indicates an intensification of fighting. It can also mean that the logistics are worse and that the injured arrive a longer time after having received the injury. The distance to the frontline from Dnepr is from 80 km and up to around 250 km.When soldiers are injured or die, there is a need for replacements. Perhaps that explains why:
- Ukrainians in UK told to register for military service (January 2024)
- Ukraine buys 50,000 women's military uniforms (January 2024) See the links!
- Women with medical education to be banned from leaving Ukraine and forced to sign up for military service - Kyiv Post (September 2023)
Short clips of forced mobilization keep coming from Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov - areas where traditionally many Russian-speaking people live. The videos typically show people taken off the street, bus, fitness center, club, or at home. Similarly in Western Ukraine, where there are ethnic Slovakians and Hungarians. Some might say that these videos only reflect that the Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians do not dare to protest being carried away, record a video, or that their videos are not uploaded, thus not noticed. Nevertheless, a situation like the current one in Ukraine offers many opportunities to adjust the demographic distribution according to political aims.Will the situation for the conflict in Ukraine change as violence erupts elsewhere, especially following the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which now has spread to involve the US and the UK in Yemen, again:
- Targeting the Houthis: The West's Obliteration of Yemen by Covert Means (2016)
- Best of the Web: US & UK launch strikes on Yemen, Houthis warn Red Sea blockade will expand to include ships of any country that attacks - UPDATE (January 12, 2024)
2024 may bring some changes to Ukraine, if not on the battlefield then in people's perception. From the last few days there are:- Ukrainians will benefit from Zelensky's fall - exiled opposition leader
- Ukraine and Palestine: A double threat to US hegemony
- 'Plan B' for Ukraine: Calls for concessions to Russia are growing in both Kiev and the West, but are they realistic?
- Swedes told to 'prepare for war'
It takes time for politicians to see the light of day:- West got Ukraine 'painfully wrong' - EU state's PM
If one compares the statement of Robert Fico with that of the Swedish war hawks there appears to be a potential in Sweden to add "thousands of dead soldiers," some of whom near the end would end up in a hospital like that in the Ukrainian city of Dnepr.