It’s now over 14 weeks since Vladimir Putin sent Russia’s military machine into Ukraine expecting a relatively easy victory. It’s fair to say that the “special military operation” is not panning out the way the Russian president or his planners had envisaged.
The main focus of the fighting continues to be in the Donbas region in the country’s east, where Russian territorial gains are being met with a terrible butcher’s bill on both sides. Portsmouth University’s military strategist, Frank Ledgwidge, says Russia has lost more troops killed since February 24 than in ten years of fighting in Afghanistan – implying that well over 40,000 Russian soldiers have been taken out of the game. Ukraine’s casualties, Ledwidge estimates, are also grievous.
