losses of the Russian Federation are 10 times less, no new mobilization is needed now

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with bloggers, authors of Telegram channels and military correspondents of the Russian mass media, said on Tuesday that during the offensive of Ukrainian troops in the last week, Russia’s losses were ten times lower than Ukraine’s losses, and Ukraine did not succeed anywhere .

At the same time, he did not name the number of killed and wounded, but mentioned that the Russian troops lost 54 tanks. He estimated Ukraine’s losses at 160 tanks and over 360 armored vehicles. Putin claims that this is “approximately 25-30% of the volume of equipment that was delivered from abroad.”

Putin’s assertions are not confirmed by the data of independent researchers – it is established that Ukraine did indeed lose dozens of pieces of equipment during the offensive (as did Russia), including Western ones, but there are no confirmed loss figures named by Putin. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated the other day that it is Russia that is bearing the biggest losses – “exactly the ones we need”.

A few days ago, Putin also spoke about the failure of the Ukrainian offensive. Since then, however, there have been reports of the Ukrainian military capturing a number of settlements in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions.

The Russian president also said that Moscow was not interested in blowing up the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station – what Ukraine is accusing it of. According to Putin, Russia was not afraid of a possible offensive by Ukraine across the Dnieper. “It would be better for them to attack there. It is better for us, because it would be very bad for them to attack there. But since such a spill happened, the offensive did not take place,” the Russian president said. There is no data that Ukraine was preparing an offensive by forcing the Dnieper in the Kherson region.

Putin also commented on shelling of Russian border territories and drone strikes on Russian territory – Ukraine did not comment on them, but the Russian authorities put responsibility for them on Kyiv. In the case of continued shelling, as Putin said, Russia “will consider the issue of creating a “sanitary zone” on the territory of Ukraine.” What is meant and by what forces such a “zone” can be created, he did not specify.

Putin also said that there is no point in introducing martial law throughout the country. According to him, there is “no sense” in sending conscripts to war. Putin, however, admitted that “conscripts are present in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and there they must fulfill their sacred duty – protect the Motherland.” When the mobilized will be demobilized – it is unknown, Putin said that they will be given leave.

At the same time, Putin said that “today there is no need” for additional mobilization. According to him, its necessity depends on the goals. “Our troops were in Kiev, do we need to return there or not?” Putin asked a rhetorical question.

When asked whether the goals of the so-called special operation change, Putin said that they change due to circumstances, but in general remain unchanged. Speaking about “denazification”, he again repeated his theses about Stepan Bander and the neo-Nazis who allegedly came to power in Ukraine. Putin also repeated his accusations against the West, saying that the West did not want to take Russia into NATO, although Putin himself, believing that “we are ours, bourgeois”, “threw a “fishing rod” there, and then threatened the “fraternal nations”.

• Putin, using tendentious historical and geopolitical arguments, announced on February 24 of last year the beginning of the so-called special military operation – a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war has been going on for more than a year, during which time, even according to the most conservative estimates, tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides and tens of thousands of civilians have died. Russia managed to occupy part of the territories in the Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which it announced to annex. After the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine managed to free a significant part of the occupied territory. In recent days, Ukraine has been conducting offensive actions, but, according to experts, the main blow of the alleged offensive has not yet been delivered.