The Russian army lost almost 900 soldiers in Ukraine in just one day, a new report shows. The General Staff of the armed forces of Ukraine claimed that yesterday (May 21), Putin’s military lost 870 soldiers and 32 artillery systems.
This puts the estimated total Russian combat losses since February 24, 2022, at around 978,000 troops, 11,000 tanks, 28,000 troop-carrying AFVs, 28,000 artillery systems, and thousands of other vehicles and weapons. Last night, Ukraine was hit with Russian drone strikes. A missile hit Kharkiv, damaging many residential buildings and killing a currently unknown number of the local population. Ukraine also launched drones towards Moscow, with Russia claiming it shot down 35 over the capital.
This comes after Donald Trump said he spent two “excellent” hours on the phone with Putin this week and then told European leaders that the Russian leader doesn’t want peace in Ukraine because he believes he is winning the war.
This was the first time Ukraine’s allies heard the US president admit that Putin was not seeking peace, a source told the Wall Street Journal. Trump has previously claimed Russia wants to end the war.
Despite previously saying he would be willing to impose sanctions on Russia, Trump u-turned during his conversation with European leaders and said he was no longer willing to do so.
This comes after the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, refused to call Putin a war criminal during a congressional hearing. Rubio criticised Putin while a US senator, leading to a politician in the hearing calling him “inconsistent” and “equivocating”.
Rubio said: “Crimes have been committed in the war on Ukraine, and there will be accountability for that, but our goal right now is to end that war.
“Because let me tell you, every single day that war goes on, people are killed, more people are maimed and, frankly, more war crimes are being committed.”