Putin Inaugurates New Tram Network in Mariupol as Russia Claims No Reliable Data on Losses in Ukrainian Conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin today inaugurated the new tram network built in Mariupol, the city in southeastern Ukraine conquered by the Russians last year in a videoconference ceremony. Russia, Putin said, quoted by Tass, will spare no effort to restore life to normal in the four regions annexed to Ukraine.

The United States does not have reliable data on Russia’s losses in the Ukrainian conflict, and therefore the information on 100,000 dead and wounded are figures “taken absolutely at random”. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the Interfax agency “Washington has no way of providing correct figures, they do not have such data,” Peskov added. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that Russia has had 20,000 dead and 80,000 wounded since December and that half of the dead are Wagner militiamen.

The Ukrainian Army “has lost more than 15,000 men” in the last month of fighting “despite unprecedented military aid” received from Kiev’s allies. This was stated by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, in statements reported by the Russian agency Interfax. “Despite unprecedented military aid from Western countries, the enemy suffers significant losses – said Shoigu – In the last month alone they have lost more than 15,000 units”. In recent weeks, he added, Russian forces destroyed eight aircraft, 277 drones, 430 tanks and other armored personnel carriers, as well as 225 artillery pieces and mortars.

“We continue to eliminate weapons supplied by the West,” the Russian defense minister said. According to the daily bulletin of the Ukrainian General Staff, more than 191,000 Russian soldiers have died since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022. The latest numbers confirmed by Moscow date back to last September, when Shoigu spoke of the deaths of 5,937 military.

A woman was injured today following Russian bombing in the Kharkiv region, in eastern Ukraine: regional governor Oleh Syniehubov made it known, as reported by the Kyiv Independent. Syniehubov specified that a 73-year-old woman was injured in the attack on the village of Petropavlivka.

Moscow has changed tactics in the war in Ukraine, it has begun deliberately targeting inhabited areas with rocket attacks in an attempt to provoke a hasty counter-offensive by Kiev forces. This is what the Ukrainian authorities say, more than a year has passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine after Russia mostly hit the country’s energy infrastructure during the colder months. “There is no doubt that they are carrying out direct attacks against houses inhabited by civilians or areas with many houses belonging to the civilian population,” Mykhailo Podolyak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, denounced on television, according to whom one of the objectives is to provoke an anticipated counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, an operation that Kiev has been planning for some time to regain control of the territories occupied by the Russians.

For Zelensky’s adviser, the latest missile strikes were aimed at testing whether Ukraine is capable of defending its airspace.

Russia “does not have enough ammunition to succeed in the offensive” in Ukraine and “the shortage of ammunition causes internal divisions, in particular between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Wagner Group”. This is what we read in the daily intelligence update released via Twitter by the London Ministry of Defense more than a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last April 27, the assessment recalls, “Russian social media linked to the military” reported the dismissal of the Russian Deputy Defense Minister, Mikhail Mizintsev, in charge of military logistics, assigned to the post for “only eight months”.

According to the report, although Mizintsev’s sacking has not been confirmed by Moscow, “rumors about his future highlight how logistical problems remain at the heart of Russia’s difficult campaign in Ukraine.” Russia “continues to prioritize the mobilization of its defense industry, but fails to respond to wartime demands – concludes the evaluation – While Russian political leaders insist on demanding success on the battlefield, Russian logistics professionals I’m in the middle.”

Since the beginning of the war the Russians have killed 478 children in Ukraine. This was stated by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office as reported by Ukrinform. “According to official information from juvenile prosecutors, 478 children died and more than 960 were injured to various degrees,” reads the message on Telegram.

The United States they claimed that the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine had “failed”. According to the spokesman of the National Security Council John Kirby, quoted by Sky News. The White House has estimated 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 dead, among Russian troops since December. About half of the deaths belong to the Wagner Group, Kirby said, adding that the Russian offensive on Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, is “stalled” and has “failed”.

An official from the Ukrainian presidential office told CNN that he was “not aware” of a peacekeeping mission involving the Vatican for the conflict with the Russia. “If there are talks, they are taking place without our knowledge,” added the source – according to reports from CNN – the day after the words of Pope francesco who yesterday, on the return flight from Budapest, had spoken to journalists about a confidential peace mission of the Holy See for Ukraine, without providing further details.

The toll from last night’s Russian missile attack is two dead and 40 wounded Pavlohrad, in Dnipro oblast. This was announced by the Ukrainian authorities, quoted by the Kiev media. There are also five children among the injured, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak.

Russian Southern Battalion rocket and artillery troops hit a train station at Kramatorsk in the Soledar-Bakhmut area, destroying a shipment of Ukrainian ammunition. Military spokesman Vadim Astafiev told the official Russian news agency Tass

Poland will make every possible effort during its presidency of the European Council to ensure that Ukraine and Moldova become EU members, the Polish president said yesterday Andrzej Duda. “Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and I know perfectly well what it means to wait a long time and want to be part of the free West,” said Duda, defining the possible admission of the two countries to the EU “the historical need of the moment».