Russia's losses in the Ukraine war: collaborators flee the Cherson region

Created: 2022-12-04Updated: 2022-12-04 06:48

By: Helena Gries, Sandra Kathe, Caspar Felix Hoffmann, Karolin Schäfer, Tim Vincent Dicke, Nadja Austel, Jan Oeftger

Ukraine inflicts more heavy casualties on Russia.

But the cold could also be even more dangerous for the Russian soldiers.

The news ticker.

• Bachmut:

  The city in the Donetsk region is heavily contested.

• Fallen soldiers:

  military leadership wants to prevent panic before a new wave of mobilization

• Editor's note:

  Read the latest developments in the Ukraine conflict in our news ticker.

  The information on the Ukraine war processed here comes partly from the warring parties in Russia and Ukraine.

  They can therefore not be independently checked in part.

Update from Sunday, December 4, 6:35 a.m.:

All Russian collaborators have left the town of Oleshky on the east bank of the Dnipro River, 23 kilometers from liberated Kherson, the National Resistance Center said.

According to the center, these people held positions in the occupation administration and the police.

This is reported by the portal

Russia's losses in the Ukraine war: wounded and dead in Zaporizhia and Luhansk 

+++ 10:34 p.m .:

In Ukrainian attacks on the towns of Melitopol and Vassiliv in the Zaporizhia region, around 270 Russian soldiers are said to have been wounded here alone on Friday (December 2).

So far, there is no information about possible other fallen soldiers, the Ukrainian general staff announced on the social media platform Facebook.

In a fire at a military base in Starobilsk in the Luhansk region, 30 Russians were wounded and 14 others killed.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

+++ 8:23 p.m .:

On Saturday (December 3), Ukrainian soldiers are said to have shot down a Russian fighter plane.

This is reported by the General Staff of the Ukrainian military in its daily situation report on Facebook.

In addition, there were a total of 14 air force attacks on troop bases, weapons and equipment depots and Russian anti-aircraft units.

According to the military command, Ukrainian missile troops and artillery attacked two checkpoints, two military bases and an ammunition depot.

The Kherson region was occupied by the Russian army.

She was able to partially recapture Ukraine.

© Evgeniy Maloletka/dpa

Secret service of Ukraine reports intercepted phone call between soldier and wife

+++ 6.39 p.m .:

The Ukrainian secret service SSU claims to have learned from a wiretapped telephone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife that the causes of death of Russian soldiers who were killed were deliberately kept secret at home.

This is reported by the news portal

The wife would have reported that huge amounts of zinc coffins with killed Russian soldiers are currently arriving in their home country in Siberia.

The official reason for many of them was that they "fell asleep but did not wake up".

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In the wiretapped conversation, the soldier stationed in Donetsk then speculated that the reason for the irritating official cause of death might be that the Russian military leadership did not want to cause panic before the next wave of recruitment was imminent.

"If they told them that they were all finished and that they were all dying here, not a soul would come," the Russian soldier replies, according to the report.

Then he tells his wife that some of his comrades have already intentionally injured themselves, and one has already died of alcohol poisoning.

Russian losses in battles for Bakhmut: the secret service sees no proportionality

+++ 12.25 p.m .:

The Russian invasion groups are fighting intensively for the

City of Bakhmut.

According to British military experts, however, this is disproportionate.

The price that Russia is paying for the attack on the city of 70,000 is disproportionate to the advantage of conquest.

+++ 10.25 a.m .:

The Ukrainian combat forces have given new estimates of Russian combat losses.

This is reported by the Ukrainian media

.

Accordingly, another 510 soldiers died on Friday (December 2nd).

A total of 90,600 Russian soldiers lost their lives in the war.

Also on Friday, eight cars and other vehicles and three armored vehicles were destroyed.

• Soldiers:

  90,600 (+510 on the previous day)

• Aircraft:

  280

• Helicopters:

  263 (+1)

• Tanks:

  2917 (+1)

• Armored fighting vehicles: 

  5886 (+3)

• Artillery systems:

  1906 (+1)

• Air defense systems:

   210

• Multiple Rocket Launchers:

   395

• Cars and other vehicles:

   4472 (+8)

• Ships:

   16

• Unmanned Combat Drones:

   15672 (+8)

Losses for Russia: More dead Russian soldiers from cold than from Ukraine

Update from December 3, 6:50 a.m .:

The winter in Ukraine is massive, especially for Russian soldiers in the soaked positions.

This is reported by the RND.

Many have already frozen to death in the trenches.

One expert says it's possible that the cold will kill more Russian soldiers than Ukraine's bullets in the next few weeks.

The British secret service also sees “very special challenges”, the average maximum temperature will be around zero degrees by February.

Losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: many dead in battles for Bakhmut

+++ 9.50 p.m .:

For several weeks, hardly any Ukrainian city has been as contested as Bakhmut in the Donetsk region – this is also reflected in the daily increasing number of fallen soldiers.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, between Wednesday (November 30) and Thursday (December 1) around 70 bodies of Russian soldiers were taken to the city of Horlivka north of Donetsk solely because of the fighting around Bakhmut.

+++ 19.50 p.m .:

During the course of Friday, the Ukrainian air force carried out a total of eight attacks on Russian troop bases, weapons and ammunition depots, attacked two air defense systems and the base of a military sub-unit.

The Ukrainian artillery hit, among other things, two ammunition depots and a total of nine troop bases and military camps.

This was reported by the Ukrainian General Staff in its daily situation report on Facebook.

In addition, around a hundred Russian soldiers were injured in a fire on Thursday (December 1) at a military base near Kamianske in the contested Zaporizhia region.   

Heavy casualties for Russia: Russian troops redeployed due to Ukrainian offensive

Update from Friday, December 2, 6.20 a.m.:

Russian military movements in Zaporizhia Oblast indicate that the country cannot defend critical areas in the face of increasing Ukrainian attacks.

This is reported by the ISW, the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia may be withdrawing troops from positions closer to the frontline in Zaporizhia Oblast to lessen the impact of Ukrainian attacks.

Russian losses in the Ukraine War: Wagner Group recruits prison inmates

+++ 19:05:

Russia's Wagner group is currently freeing men imprisoned in the Central African Republic for murder and rape, among other things, in order to use them as mercenaries in the Ukraine war.

This emerges from a report by

 .

The Wagner group had previously used prisoners to fight the Ukrainian army.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, has visited Russian prisons several times in the past to recruit serious criminals for the war.

Since then, the Russian has been accused of recruiting men in prison camps to fight in Ukraine without a legal basis – due to a lack of personnel at the front.

Ukraine war news: Ukraine kills 480 soldiers and shoots down fighter jets

First report from Tuesday, November 29:

Kiev – The Russian military can still not report any major gains in territory in the Ukraine war.

On the contrary: the loss of the strategically important port city of Cherson still weighs heavily.

Every day, more and more soldiers are dying in the service of Russia.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has now released the latest figures on Russian army losses.

Data shows that hundreds of soldiers continue to lose their lives in combat every day.

According to the ministry in Kyiv, 480 Russian fighters died within 24 hours.

In addition, three tanks, two artillery systems and two fighter jets were destroyed.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia's losses are so high

Meanwhile, according to British estimates, Russia has moved away from its basic military and tactical concept - the reason being the heavy defeats of the troops of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin.

In the past three months, the Russian forces in Ukraine have largely stopped appearing as tactical battalion groups (BTG), the Ministry of Defense said in London, citing intelligence findings.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia is struggling with big problems

The high-intensity fighting over a wide area would have revealed several errors in the concept.

"The relatively small allocation of infantry to the BTG has often proved insufficient." In addition, the decentralized distribution of artillery did not allow Russia to exploit its quantitative advantage with this important weapon.

Only a few commanders have permission to use the model flexibly, it said in London.

The BTG concept is a central pillar of Russian military doctrine in recent years.

Each tactical unit is equipped with infantry, anti-aircraft, artillery, logistics and reconnaissance units.

(with agencies)