Alwaght- The commander of the Chechen Special Forces Unit, Apti Alaudinov, confirmed that the Ukrainian forces have lost 60-70 percent of the equipment supplied from the West, and have lost more than 40,000 people since the start of the much-vaunted “counter-offensive”.
“They gathered 60,000 people, prepared them for the counterattack, put them on the front line, and lost 40,000 people forever, actually more than 40,000 people. It can be said that the remaining 20,000, for the most part, are actually 300. In order to close these gaps, units are being removed from all areas,” he said.
He added that the extremist Azov and Idar battalions no longer exist, and now the newly created units are participating in the battles, in which fighters from other formations poured in. “The fact that they easily surrendered to captivity already indicates that they no longer have a motive to fight.”
Earlier, the President of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, had maintained that only 20-25 percent of the personnel of the Fourth Attack Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard survived the battles on the Klishchiivka, a town in Bakhmut region in eastern Ukraine.
About two months ago, Ukraine started its counteroffensive to retake the territories it lost to the Russians. The West stepped up its aids to Kiev before the attack hoping it makes gains.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in a meeting with Belarusian counterpart said that the counteroffensive failed and the Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses because of "stupidity."
In mid-August, the Washington Post reported that “the US intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol", a city targeted for recapture.
Other Western media also shared the Western officials disappointment and doubt about gains the Ukrainian forces could make in their push in the east.
