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Russia Eyes Conquest of Southern Ukraine; Leak Suggests Over 20k Casualties So Far

Published 04/22/2022, 04:24 AM
Updated 04/22/2022, 04:56 AM
© Reuters

© Reuters

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- Russia added the conquest of southern Ukraine to the core objectives of its campaign, signaling a more ambitious military campaign in the coming weeks.

The news agency Interfax reported the Defense Ministry in Moscow as saying that the 'second stage' of its 'special military operation' now includes 'full control' of the south of the country. Only a week ago, President Vladimir Putin had said that his forces' primary aim was to secure control of the Donbas region, expanding the breakaway statelets which Russia's proxies have run since 2014. At the time of his invasion in February, Putin had said he had no plans to occupy further regions of Ukraine. 

The news agency Tass, meanwhile, reported that the high command intends to secure a corridor running across the whole of southern Ukraine to Transnistria - another Russian-sponsored breakaway region in eastern Moldova. That would imply the loss of Ukraine's entire coastline and consequently its access to world markets for its key agricultural exports. The report appears to confirm Russian plans to dismember its neighbor, which has been an independent country and a UN member since 1991.

Under the so-called second phase of the operation, Russian forces have launched a major offensive in the east of Ukraine, having failed to capture the capital Kyiv in the first phase. 

Interfax also reported Major-General Rustam Minnekayev as saying that the army will seek to establish a land corridor to Crimea, the Ukrainian region that it annexed at the same time as the Donbas regions seceded. The importance of a land corridor has risen, given Moscow's inability to secure control of the Black Sea coastline. It has lost both its flagship, the cruiser Moskva, and the Saratov, a large supply ship, to Ukrainian missiles in the last month.

The announcement comes a day after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that his forces had complete control of the city of Mariupol, despite ongoing resistance from Ukrainian soldiers in the Azovstal iron and steel works, a vast industrial complex some 3 miles long. 

Separately, a report overnight by the typically pro-Kremlin Russian news outlet Readovka cited a closed Defense Ministry briefing as saying that Russia's military losses had been far higher than previously admitted. It estimated over 13,400 soldiers were killed and another 7,000 missing. If the usual ratio of killed-to-wounded applies to the current campaign, that would suggest Russia has suffered over 50,000 casualties in eight weeks of fighting, over a quarter of all the forces it assembled for the attack.

Readovka's post was quickly taken down again.

 

 

Latest comments

funny actor has done nothing but talking
Not a lie.  That deplorable Russian couple was doxxed: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10722417/Pictured-Wife-recorded-ordering-Russian-soldier-husband *******Ukrainian-women.html
The anti-vaxx folks are supposed to be pro-freedom & anti-fascism.  The Putin trolls are trying to propagandize you folks into being pro-Putin, pro-fascism & pro-war crimes.
There is a good mix of foreigner fighters trapped in Azovstal along with ukranian citizens taken as a human shield by Azov battalion. Don't fall for the same "news"  our media was feeding us with covid lies
That deplorable Russian deplorable pervert couple was doxxed.
 Hillary? lmao
 Obsessed w/ Hillary?  But no, while Hillary got mad at Bill, the Russian wife encouraged her soldier to r8pe.  Their names are Roman Bykovsky and Olga Bykovskaya
The end turns out its was always to take part of Ukraine. They want the whole black sea area all the way down to Odessa.Straight out liars …
20k casualties? Give me a break. We're supposed to believe that from people who say the virus came from nature, that masks work, that vaccines stop transmission, that hydroxy doesn't work, that Hunter Biden laptop wasn't real, that inflation was transitory?
That's ignorant.  The 20k # came from "a pro-Kremlin news site posted, then withdrew, a report citing a closed Defense Ministry briefing that Russia had lost over 20,000 soldiers killed and missing in action since its invasion in February."  Otoh, usually not a good idea to believe the Kremlin.
"Defense Ministry in Moscow as saying that the 'second stage' of its 'special military operation' now includes 'full control' of the south of the country."  --  Russian trolls have been lying here, as usual, saying the Russians only wanted to protect Russians in Ukraine.
I wish 100 years of misery on Russia..
 Lie. It was proven that this call was staged by ukranians. Come up with better next time.
 Russian people threw away democracy out of laziness. Now thousands die. To ********with them all.
 Nope, it was not proven to be a lie. In fact, journalists have already called to that woman and her husband, voices and everything has been confirmed. Not a lie.
no winners here, only losers, and all because of one evil pranoid mans delusions of grandeur. the day of reckoning will come for putler and his cronies
Glad to hear Russia is taking on so jany casualties. They have been the true axis of evil in this aggression.
we know who the lying leaders are. the question is why so many gullibles follow them blindly?
how can you hide losing 50k soldiers? only if you dont care.
you cant trust liars, hear me GOP?
This all belongs to Biden and the dems.
I knew someone once that lied regularly, even when there is no reason to do so. liars even forget the lies and tell the same story differently each time. after a while liars are easily identified and most normal people can't trust a thing that comes out of their mouths, oh but except the republicans, they love them no matter.
People shocked putin keeps lying
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