Russia has lost eight times as many soldiers as Ukraine since Moscow launched its latest offensive in the northeastern province of Kharkiv two weeks ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday.
Zelensky said the mass casualties on the battlefield prove Russian President Vladimir Putin “has absolutely no regard for human life,” in an interview with Kazakh media outlet Vlast.
He put the number of Russian soldiers were killed in Kharkiv since May 10 between 2,000 and 3,000 .
“Their breakthrough in the direction of Kharkiv,” Zelensky said, resulted in “military casualties of one to eight – one Ukrainian to eight Russians,” he said, adding that Putin “doesn’t care at all.”
Separately, Zelensky said Ukranian forces had taken back areas Russian troops attempted to conquer over the past two weeks.
“Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Friday evening.
But he warned that the country’s second largest city, also named Kharkiv, was still vulnerable, a comment that was followed by another attack.
On Saturday, Russia launched a daylight attack against a construction supplies market in Kharkiv, killing and wounding several of the 200 people at the site at the time.
“All the emergency services are already on the site and providing assistance, rescuing people, and extinguishing the fire that has completely engulfed the building,” Zelensky posted to X. “If Ukraine had sufficient air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, Russian strikes like this one would have been impossible. And that is why we appeal to all leaders, to all states: we need a significant enhancement of air defense and sufficient capabilities to destroy Russian terrorists.”
Saturday’s attack happened hours after Ukraine targeted Russia’s Saki airfield in Crimea, and comes less than a day after reports started circulating that suggest Putin is willing to discuss a ceasefire along current battle lines.
Russia could keep the fighting going, observers said, but that would mean an expansion of its highly unpopular conscription program.
The rumored movement toward a freeze in fighting came as more senior defense leaders were arrested in Russia on suspicion of corruption and accepting bribes.
More than $1 million in items and cash were recovered from the home of Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, head of defense personnel, who is charged with accepting bribes.
Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin, deputy chief of the general staff, and Vladimir Verteletsky, who headed the personnel directorate of Russia’s Defense Ministry, are also facing accusations of accepting bribes.
“Corruption is deeply rooted in the Russian Ministry of Defense,” said a UK intelligence update posted Saturday on X. “And it is likely there will be further arrests.”
The crackdown follows Putin’s ouster of Sergei Shoigu as defense minister days after the battles resumed in Kharkiv, who was widely criticized for his handling of the war.
Meanwhile, delivering Saturday’s commencement at West Point, President Joe Biden reemphasized his commitment to keeping American soldiers out of the region.
“There are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine,” Biden said. “I’m determined to keep it that way. But we are standing strong with Ukraine and we will stand with them.”
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