Ukraine’s representative to the United Nations, Andrii Melnyk, commented on the losses of the Russian army. He described them as enormous, especially when compared to the limited territorial gains.
Details
Andrii Melnyk made this statement during a UN Security Council meeting on April 20, according to Ukrinform. He stressed that Ukraine is fighting for its homeland. Meanwhile, Russians, as he put it, are “burning through its own population.” He added that Russia has become the first country since World War I to suffer such massive military losses while capturing so little land.
According to Melnyk, Russia loses an average of 254 soldiers for every square kilometer of Ukrainian territory it occupies. He compared this to the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940. Back then, he noted, “the cost of human lives per square kilometer was roughly one hundred times lower.”
“Just multiply 6,000 by 254 dead soldiers for each square kilometer. According to this brutal logic of war, in order to seize the whole territory of Donbass, or the Donetsk region, by military means, Mr. Putin would have to send at least another one and a half million soldiers to their deaths,” he said.
He pointed out that this would effectively double Russia’s current losses. In total, the number could reach at least 3 million. Melnyk emphasized that such a figure would be catastrophic even for Vladimir Putin, for whom the value of his own citizens’ lives seems to be “less than a penny”.
Consequences for Russia
Furthermore, Melnyk argued that if Russia attempted to occupy all of Ukraine, it would need more than 122 million troops. At the current pace of advance, he estimated, Russia would reach this hypothetical goal in about 183 years. Therefore, he suggested that Putin likely understands he cannot seize Ukraine by military means. Instead, he may end up destroying Russia itself.
At the same time, Melnyk warned about internal consequences. He said that large-scale military losses and economic decline are already causing social unrest inside Russia. As a result, this could eventually lead to the country’s territorial disintegration.
Despite Russia’s demands that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donetsk region, Ukraine refuses to accept ultimatums.
“We will never, ever abandon a single square millimeter of our soil. And we will never, ever abandon any of our fellow citizens,” Melnyk stated.
Finally, he highlighted the lack of logic in the Kremlin’s claims regarding Donetsk. Russia covers 17.1 million square kilometers and remains the largest country in the world. In contrast, the 6,000 square kilometers of the Donetsk region represent only 0.03% of Russia’s territory. Nevertheless, Russia continues to argue that peace is only possible if Ukraine makes concessions.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that Vladimir Boglaev, head of the Cherepovets plant, sharply criticized Kremlin policies, saying that Russia is degrading. Notably, Ukrainian drones had previously targeted the facility.
