Ukraine's defense minister sets goal to kill 50,000 Russian troops per month

Businessinsider: Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's new defense minister, said in a meeting with reporters on Tuesday that he has set a goal for Ukrainian forces to kill 50,000 Russian troops every month. Fedorov called the figure a core "strategic objective" aimed at "impos[ing] costs on Russia that it cannot bear," and specified it refers only to battlefield fatalities.

He said Ukrainians are already documenting 35,000 kills a month by video. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte offered a different estimate, saying on January 16 that 20,000 to 25,000 Russian troops were dying each month, and Ukraine's commander in chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in December his forces had for the first time killed and wounded more Russian soldiers in one month than the Kremlin had called up.

The target comes after Russia intensified offensives last year, including attempts to take cities such as Pokrovsk, and amid discussion that the Kremlin may be reaching a manpower tipping point. Russia does not disclose casualties; international and Ukrainian analyses say totals likely exceed 1 million, and the UK defense ministry said in early January that the Kremlin may have suffered at least 1.2 million total casualties since February 2022.

Key Topics

World, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine, Russia, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Pokrovsk