The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. General Mark Milley said that Russia lost more than 100 000 soldiers killed and wounded in the war with Ukraine. The losses of the Ukrainian side are likely to be the same, he added.
CNN writes about it.
During a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Milli called Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine a "huge strategic mistake" for which the Russian Federation will pay for "years, years, years."
According to him, since February 24, the war has caused a huge amount of human suffering, including from 15 to 30 million refugees and approximately 40 thousand deaths of civilians of Ukraine.
"You see thousands of killed and wounded Russian soldiers. The same, probably, on the Ukrainian side," General Milli noted.
He also noted that there may be an opportunity for ceasefire negotiations. In his opinion, this will happen if and when the front line stabilizes during the winter.
"When there is an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved, take it," Milley advised, adding that the United States will continue to arm Ukraine regardless of whether negotiations take place.
The American general also said that the United States sees the first signs of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson. But, according to him, the withdrawal of 20 000 to 30 000 troops from the western bank of the Dnipro River may take days or even weeks.
“I believe they are doing this to preserve their forces to rebuild the defense lines south of the river, but that remains to be seen. Right now there are early signs that they are doing what they say, and we are seeing those early signs,” he added.
- On October 18, in the occupied part of the Kherson region, an "organized transfer of the civilian population to the left bank of the Dnipro River" was announced. Collaborator Volodymyr Saldo announced at the time about the "planned destruction of the Kakhovska HPP dam."
- On October 31, the occupiers announced that they had decided to evacuate civilians already from the left bank of the Kherson region— due to the alleged preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for "mass shelling of the Kakhovska HPP", and then people were forbidden to cross the Dnipro.
- On November 9, the commander of Russian troops in Ukraine General Surovikin announced that the Russian army was withdrawing from the right bank of the Kherson city and the region.