A top Ukrainian military commander has vowed to resume offensive actions against Russian forces following a string of recent battlefield losses in the eastern Donetsk region.
“We will stabilize the situation shortly,” Gen. Oleksandr Pavliuk, Ukraine’s recently appointed ground forces commander, said in televised remarks.
A former deputy defense minister, Gen. Pavliuk was appointed to the post of ground forces commander last month, replacing Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. The appointment was part of a major military reshuffle in which Gen. Syrskyi replaced Gen. Valery Zaluzhny as Ukraine’s top military commander.
Ukraine’s newly reorganized military will “do everything possible to prepare the troops for more active actions and to seize the initiative,” Gen. Pavliuk said on March 6.
His comments follow a string of Russian battlefield victories, the most notable of which was the capture last month of the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.
Kyiv has sought to portray the loss of Avdiivka as a “strategic withdrawal” to more advantageous positions west of the town. Moscow, however, says Ukrainian forces were pushed out of Avdiivka in a full-on rout, losing vast amounts of men and equipment in the process.
Since then, Russian forces have pressed their advantage, taking three additional villages west of Avdiivka.
Late last month, Kyiv confirmed the withdrawal of its forces—Moscow calls them “retreats”—from the villages of Lastochkyne, Sievierne, and Stepove.
At the time, a Ukrainian military spokesman said the troops were withdrawn “to consolidate their defenses ... and prevent the enemy from advancing further westward.”
Russian gains in and around Avdiivka have brought Moscow closer to asserting full control over the entire Donbas region, which includes both Donetsk and Luhansk.
Control of the Russian-speaking Donbas has remained a key Russian objective since Moscow began its invasion of eastern Ukraine just over two years ago.
Disparate Casualty Figures
The fight for Avdiivka began last October when a months-long Ukrainian counter-offensive ground to a halt after failing to achieve its objectives. According to Russia’s defense ministry, Kyiv lost 160,000 troops during the operation, along with hundreds of tanks and more than 2,000 armored vehicles.The ministry further claims that Ukrainian forces have continued to take significant losses—with 500 killed on March 5 alone—since the fall of Avdiivka.
Kyiv, meanwhile, seldom gives figures for its battlefield losses.
But on Feb. 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the number of Ukrainian troops killed since Russia started its invasion at roughly 31,000. That figure, however, conflicts sharply with a New York Times report published last August, which put the number at close to 70,000.
The same report, which cited U.S. officials, said that upwards of 120,000 Russian troops have been killed over the same period. This week, the UK’s defense ministry put the total number of Russian casualties—including both dead and injured—at 355,000.
Mediazona, an independent Russian outlet opposed to President Vladimir Putin, recently put the number of slain Russian troops at 75,000—at a minimum—since the conflict began.
Since early 2022, Mediazona has tracked Russian casualties—in collaboration with the BBC’s Russian service—using publicly accessible data.
3rd Abrams Hit: Moscow
This week, Russia’s defense ministry claimed that a third U.S.-supplied Abrams tank had been knocked out of commission by Russian forces near Avdiivka.According to Moscow, the first Abrams tank was destroyed on Feb. 27. The claims have typically been accompanied by video footage that appears to show an Abrams in flames after having been struck by Russian tank fire or combat drones.
The United States began delivering Abrams tanks to Ukraine late last year.
On March 6, Moscow alleged that a third Abrams tank had been destroyed “with the first shot” by a Russian tank crew.
The Epoch Times couldn’t independently confirm the veracity of the claim.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials—and mainstream media outlets—have largely refrained from mentioning the Russian reports.
When asked about the Russian claims, a U.S. State Department spokesperson referred The Epoch Times to the U.S. Department of Defense; Pentagon officials haven’t responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
While it had been unclear how many Western-supplied combat tanks had been neutralized by Russian forces in Ukraine, German media says more than 20 German-built Leopard tanks were destroyed last year alone during Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Seven months later, Moscow annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions after holding so-called referendums. Since then, it has regarded all four regions as Russian Federation territory.
Ukraine and its allies reject the moves by Russia as illegitimate land grabs, while Kyiv has vowed to continue fighting until all four regions are recovered.
