"They have no tactics": Ukrainian fighters report "mass" losses by Russia
Created: 05/09/2022, 13:54
By: Franziska Schwarz
Picture taken on April 30: a Ukrainian fighter training near Kharkiv © Sergey Bobok/AFP
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, has been under fire for weeks.
But the resistance is great - and now seems to be working.
Kharkiv - There are still reports of civilians killed in the Ukraine war in the relevant Telegram channels.
For example, at least three civilians are said to have died on May 8 in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.
But in eastern Ukraine, the troops of the attacker Vladimir Putin are said to be increasingly on the defensive.
What are the reasons?
“The Russians have no tactics.
They simply send tanks and infantry into battle and try to win.
They are losing soldiers en masse, which doesn't seem to bother them,"
t-online
reporter Daniel Mützel quoted a Ukrainian officer as saying.
But Russia's military has not given up on Kharkiv, according to the report.
There can be no talk of liberation yet.
"You don't run away.
They're fighting," said Mützel from Ukrainian sources about the Russian soldiers.
The fighters he cited belong to the “Kraken” unit, which is part of the nationalist Ukrainian Azov Battalion.
Kharkiv region in the Ukraine war: "Military convoys every minute"
The reporter reports that there are repeated air alerts in Kharkiv, but unlike in many other cities there is currently no curfew.
A suburb of the city of Kharkiv is Zyrkuny.
According to reports - which are currently difficult to independently verify - the place was already completely taken by Putin's troops.
On May 8th, Mützel reported on "military convoys every minute" that drove along an important supply route in the direction of Zyrkuny.
The US broadcaster CNN said the day before that, according to the Ukrainian side, the Russian troops in the Kharkiv region were now blowing up bridges for the first time.
Their reason: the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
According to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine has recaptured areas near Kharkiv.
Russia is therefore probably forced to relocate troops there.
The
New York Times
writes , citing the think tank, that arms deliveries from the West are a contributing factor.
Around Zyrkuny, weapons from Germany are also used in the military battles in the Ukraine war: a Ukrainian unit has been equipped with machine guns of the MG 42 type, as well as a jeep with a Maxim machine gun mounted on it.
This was confirmed by a soldier Mützel.
Putin justifies invasion of Donbass in May 9 speech
The Kremlin had originally planned to take control of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine within a few days.
There, pro-Russian separatists are striving for control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions with military help from Moscow.
The Ukraine conflict, which has escalated in this way, has now lasted a good two and a half months.
Russia this Monday (9 May) celebrates the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Hitler's Germany.
In his speech at the military parade, Putin justified his military invasion of Ukraine.
Shortly after Putin's speech on Red Square in Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry reported more than 200 new attacks on Ukraine - within a few hours.
(frs)
