Syrskyi: Russia's losses in Bakhmut and Kursk exceeded Ukrainian by several times
Photo: Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine General Oleksandr Syrskyi (Getty Images)
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, emphasizes in an interview to RBC-Ukraine, that in Bakhmut in 2023, the ratio of losses was at least 1 to 7 in favor of Ukraine. A similar situation is with the Kursk operation – there, the Russians also suffered several times greater losses.
Russian forces' losses during the battles for Bakhmut
According to Syrskyi, the prolonged defense of Bakhmut had strategic significance. The battles for the city lasted eight months, and there the main forces of the enemy consisted of mercenaries of the Wagner group.
"When the battles for Bakhmut were coming to an end, Prigozhin himself admitted in one of his interviews that he had lost 20,000 of his best fighters killed there," Syrskyi reminds.
At the same time, as the Commander-in-Chief notes, according to estimates of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this figure amounted to about 23 thousand personnel.
"And since their losses then were 50 to 50 – killed and wounded – then together with the wounded the losses numbered approximately 40 thousand. Whereas the total number of the Wagner group was up to 50 thousand. That is, Wagner as a structure did not recover anymore," emphasized Syrskyi.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine underlines that if Ukrainian forces had not held the enemy in the city, then Chasiv Yar, Kramatorsk, Kostyantynivka, and Druzhkivka would have been under attack.
The ratio of Ukrainian losses to those suffered by Wagner in the battle for Bakhmut was 1 to 7 – 1 to 7.7, the Commander-in-Chief clarified. That means the Ukrainian army lost seven times fewer troops than the enemy.
Therefore, according to him, this is the best indicator during the time of the full-scale war. Therefore, if to speak about the role of Bakhmut – it in fact saved a significant section of the front and a significant amount of territories.
Kursk operation
A similar situation was observed also during the Kursk operation. According to estimates of Russian sources, the losses of the Russian army then exceeded the Ukrainian ones by 5.5 times.
"So in the offensive, we suffered five times fewer losses than the enemy. This was also the best indicator since the start of the full-scale war. Perhaps it is a peculiarity of this war, but in reality, it was simply a well-planned operation," noted the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the enemy’s plans
Earlier, Syrskyi said that the enemy is now conducting regrouping and concentrating on two main directions: Pokrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. To the latter, forces are being transferred from the Sumy direction.
Syrskyi underlined that the actions of the Russian army are not concentrated only on two directions. According to him, the enemy can also become active on the Novopavlivka direction. In addition, battles continue on the Lyman direction, where the Russians are also trying to advance, although the scale of hostilities there is smaller.
