Among other things, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his assessment of conditions on the front lines during his Nov. 27 press conference in Bishkek. “The positive dynamics persist in all directions,” he said. Month after month, he added, “the size of the territory, so to speak, returned by our forces in all key areas is steadily increasing. In other words, the pace of our advance is accelerating.
“However, the main problem for the enemy lies elsewhere: the widening gap between their losses and the number of personnel they are able to bring to the line of combat contact,” Putin continued. “In October, I believe, they suffered over 47,000 casualties, or about 47,500. Through mobilization, or more precisely—forced mobilization, they raised roughly 16,500, and an additional 14,500 to 15,000 returned from hospitals. If one calculates this precisely down to a tenth, the net deficit comes to around 15,000. In the previous month, the deficit was 10,000. Thus, the gap is widening.”
Later he gave a detailed account of the situation on the front lines, working his way from Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) in the Donetsk People’s Republic–where thousands of Ukrainian troops are trapped, completely surrounded by Russian forces—through Zaporozhye and all the way to the Kharkov region in the north. Kupyansk, an important railroad junction in the Kharkov region, “is entirely under our control, and another 15 battalions—around 3,500 personnel—are encircled on the left bank of the Oskol River,” Putin said. “According to some of our commanders, Ukrainian soldiers in that area now resemble homeless people. This is not a joke. Imagine trying to supply 3,500 people by drone: food, uniform replacements, ammunition. It is impossible. They have been stuck in these conditions for weeks and are now practically immobilized.”
