Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said that nearly 65,000 Russian troops have been killed during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine — the largest figure yet.
The eye-popping unconfirmed number had been posted to social media by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a message stating that “about 64,700” Russian soldiers have been “liquidated” since the war began on Feb. 24.
“So many citizens of Russia gave their lives for the possibility of a handful of people in the Kremlin to ignore reality,” Zelensky said in his daily message to Ukrainians.
Biden administration officials in August estimated that 75,000 Russians had been killed or wounded in the conflict, a number dismissed by a Kremlin spokesman.
Earlier Saturday, Russian missiles and “kamikaze” drones struck the southern city of Zaporizhzhia – home to Europe’s largest nuclear reactor – Ukrainian officials said, as part of a regional assault that has killed 11 civilians in recent days.
At least 10 C300 missiles hit the city, according to the head of Zaporizhzhia’s regional military administration, Oleksandr Starukh. The missiles damaged unidentified “infrastructure facilities” in what Anatoliy Kurtev, the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhya, called an “insidious attack.”
A car damaged from shrapnel is seen at a parking lot after a Russian attack. APThe missile strikes followed an overnight incursion of four explosive-equipped drones known as “kamikazes” for their ability to hover undetected before locating and diving into a target and self-immolating.
Civilians throughout southeastern Ukraine – eight in the Donetsk region, two in the Zaporizhzhia region, and one in Kharkiv – were killed in the last day, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office.
Meanwhile, a missile strike caused “serious” damage to an energy provider near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as Russian forces stepped up their campaign to cut off water and electricity throughout the country.
Dmytro Pocishchuk checks his car, which was damaged after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia. APElectricity transmission company Ukrenergo said Saturday that emergency repair crews had been dispatched to the scene, but warned of power outages and asked residents to limit their use of electricity during peak nighttime hours, according to a report.
Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike did not kill or wound anyone.
The Kremlin is launching renewed missile strikes following a truck bomb explosion a week ago that damaged the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Earlier this week, Russian attacks targeted residential buildings, killing dozens of people, and urban infrastructure such as power stations in the capital and other cities throughout the country.
A destroyed car is seen next to a crater created by an explosion on Oct. 15. APIn London, the British Ministry of Defense issued a report criticizing the “endemic corruption and poor logistics” of Russia’s military forces.
New conscripts entering the Russian army through President Vladimir Putin’s recent “partial mobilization” are likely being forced to buy their own body armor – at massively inflated prices – because the Kremlin’s stocks of protective gear have all but run out, British intelligence found.
Russia announced in 2020 that it had secured 300,000 sets of Ratnik body armor, including the all-important 6B45 vest – enough to issue to troops currently fighting in Ukraine, but not the new arrivals.
The vest alone “has been selling on Russian online shopping sites for 40,000 rubles (approx. USD $640), up from around 12,000 rubles (appox. USD $190) in April,” the report concluded.
