Russia's invasion force in Ukraine ‘failing to achieve goals, despite large numbers of troops’
A magazine from an assault rifle and a bank card near the body of a Russian soldier in Blahodatne, Donetsk Oblast, September 8, 2023 (Photo:REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak)
Russia has failed to achieve any of its strategic goals in Ukraine, despite deploying almost half-a-million troops to the parts of Ukraine under occupation, a Ukrainian defense official has said.
Russia has deployed more than 420,000 of its military personnel in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine or HUR said at the annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy conference organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported on Sept. 10.
Skibitskyi added that this number does not include the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), special units and other Russian security forces, "which (support) the occupation authorities in (Ukrainian) territories."
The deputy chief of the HUR said that more than a year-and-a-half after the beginning of the full-scale aggression, Russia had completely failed to achieve its strategic goal – the full occupation of Ukraine's territory.
"Then other strategic goals followed," he said.
“First, the full occupation of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. And right now, as of today, Russia is conducting the most active hostilities in two areas - Kupyansk-Lyman and Maryinka-Donetsk - in order to accomplish at least some task and fully reach the administrative borders of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.”
Skibitskyi said that the Russian troop grouping in the Donbas area is a very powerful contingent, which includes a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery systems, multiple launch rocket systems and missile systems.
Meanwhile, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of the morning of Sept. 9, Russia has lost more than 268,000 soldiers in Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion of the country.
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