British Ambassador Mocks the Pace of the Russian Army's Advance
Russian troops are suffering significant losses in eastern Ukraine, while their rate of advance remains extremely slow. The British ambassador to Ukraine emphasized that the actual pace of the occupiers’ advance is even slower than that of a snail.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Neil Crompton made this statement in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
According to the diplomat, a grueling war is underway in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donetsk region, during which Ukrainian defenders are inflicting extremely heavy losses on the occupiers.
According to data from the chiefs of staff reviewed by the ambassador, the trend in Russian troop losses is as follows:
- April and May: approximately 35,000 people per month.
- July: 42,700 killed or seriously wounded.
“I think the number was slightly lower in June. When the leaves come out, it’s a little safer for soldiers to move around. But this is an extraordinary figure. If I Google Soviet casualties in the war in Afghanistan, it says that 15,000 people were killed,” Krompton emphasized.
Despite Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s claims about the Russian army’s alleged rapid advance, the reality on the battlefield is the opposite, the diplomat stressed in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
“Our former Chief of the General Staff once said that a snail was actually moving faster than the Russian armed forces. And this is happening at a tremendous cost,” he said.
The British diplomat emphasized that the real, large-scale shift on the front lines lies in the increasing effectiveness of Ukrainian medium- and long-range strikes.
“For example, the medium-range strikes in Crimea. President Putin was forced to declare a state of emergency. Russian vacationers are not traveling to Crimea. People are being forced to leave. This is causing real damage to military supply lines,” Crompton noted.
In his view, Crimea is important to both Ukraine and Russia for various reasons. But for the Russians, it is the “jewel in the crown” of the war.
“So I believe this is a politically complex situation for Moscow. And, as we see from the news, none of this is a secret,” the diplomat concluded.
Earlier, the General Staff confirmed a strike on the TANECO oil refinery in Tatarstan.
As a reminder, a Russian attack on the Poltava region damaged a gas station and a factory.
In Dnipro on Friday, August 7, a World Health Organization humanitarian warehouse was destroyed as a result of the attack. There were no people on the premises at the time of the strike, and no casualties were reported.
Over the past 24 hours, the occupiers lost 1,130 troops and more than 400 pieces of military equipment.
In the Kherson region, one person was killed and two were wounded as a result of Russian shelling.
