Meat Grinder: Ukraine Loses 4,855 Men Last Week, 785 on Saturday Alone As Counter-Offensive Inches Forward | The Gateway Pundit | by Richard Abelson

*Hard-fought Ukrainian victory in the village of Robotyne cost thousands of casualties*

The Ukrainian Army lost up to 4,855 servicemen last week, TASS reports, as its counter-offensive inches forward in Southern Ukraine. Last week, the Ukrainian forces lost 1,490 fighters in the Donetsk area, 1,180 servicemen in the South Donetsk area, 820 in the Zaporozhye area, 665 in the Kupyansk area, 485 in the Krasny Liman area and 215 in the Kherson area, TASS reports, based on the figures of the Russian Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, Aug. 26, the Ukrainian Army lost a total of 785 casualties, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, which claims to have repelled five attacks by the elite Ukrainian 82nd Air Assault and 46th Airmobile brigades in Robotyne in the Zaporozhye region, with up to 200 Ukrainian casualties. Up to 240 Ukrainian servicemen were killed and wounded outside of Donetsk, where heavy fighting was also taking place.

Russia does not release its own casualty figures. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims that Russia has lost 261,310 soldiers since beginning of the war.

“There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

Total combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 2022 to August 28, 2023: pic.twitter.com/Fkc1jq6EII

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 28, 2023

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the village of Robotyne on the southeastern banks of the Deniepr river “has been liberated and our troops are moving southeast” of the town.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirms the liberation of Robotyne (Zaporizhzhia oblast) on the southern front. Speaking to the Military Media Center, Hanna Maliar said that "Robotyne has been liberated and our troops are moving southeast" of the town. The deputy minister… pic.twitter.com/xAwJl49B2F

— Dénes Törteli 🇪🇺🇭🇺🇺🇦 (@DenesTorteli) August 28, 2023

Russian military sources claimed that after several dozen small and large attacks, the Ukrainian military were forced to regroup in the region. Some Ukrainian reconnaissance companies and battalions were partially withdrawn from the front due to loss of combat capability, Southfront reports.

As the USA pushes for a breakthrough in the offensive, the Ukrainian military is accumulating significant forces north of Robotyne, preparing for another attack. Russian military reportedly spotted up to 83 units of heavy military equipment moving in the area on August 24.

Video of the Ukrainian Army retaking Robotyne a few days ago. pic.twitter.com/i7497EwTSa

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 26, 2023

Yevgeny Balitsky, the acting governor of the Zaporozhye region, said that Ukrainian assault units reached the first line of Russian defenses yesterday, but were “completely destroyed”, Sputnik News reported. Ukrainian sources claimed Robotyne has been captured. NATO-aligned Institute for the Study of War also claimed that Ukrainian forces are advancing south of Robotyne, near Urozhaine and Staromayorske, as well as near Donetsk.

Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote that “the strategy pursued in the NATO area, based on continuous military supplies to Ukraine and on the logic of escalation, has not resulted in the expected Russian military defeat… There has been no defeat of the Russian army in Bakhmut, there has been no weakening of its military and paramilitary units, there has been no retreat under the Ukrainian counteroffensive.”

“After a year and a half of war, what is the reality that prevails over all these simplistic predictions pumped by war propaganda?”, Conte wrote. “The reality is 500 thousand deaths on both fronts. The reality is over 6 million Ukrainian refugees who left their country. The reality is entire cities and vast territories completely destroyed that we will have to help rebuild in the coming years, with a European financial commitment, estimated in the initial stage alone at €50 billion. The reality is that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has had a pull effect on global military spending growth by 3.7% in 2022 compared to the previous year, with last year’s military spending reaching a record amount of $2,240 billion across the planet.”

“We have always been convinced that it was a mistake to be led by the obsession to inflict a military defeat on the Russian Federation,” the former Italian PM wrote. “Next year the election campaign for the American presidential election will be held. It’s easy to predict that even in the U.S. this conflict will be at the center of political debate, creating grounds for military disengagement, since the strategy followed here has already cost U.S. taxpayers tens and tens of billions of dollars.”