Analysis: Russia lost more tanks at Pokrovsk than any country in Europe has in its army
Russia is suffering more and more losses trying to look like the side that is winning.
The dynamics of Russian losses indicate the price of the Russian offensive.
Russia had to go to a colossal increase in its losses in order to continue to look like the winning side. While in 2022 Russian losses amounted to about 200 soldiers per day (killed and wounded), in 2023 - about 500, then in 2024 Russia reached the mark of 1K and 1.5K soldiers per day. In the battles near Pokrovsk, Russian losses are close to the number of the entire Western Military District of the Russian Federation as of 2022, which was being prepared for war with NATO. And this is about 60% of the forces with which Russia planned to seize Ukraine in three days in 2022.
In October 2023, Russia defined the offensive on Pokrovsk as the main axis of its offensive campaign. Obviously, Putin is focused on the goal of completely capturing the Donetsk region as the highest priority in the coming years. But this offensive has led to colossal losses.
During the first few weeks of the offensive, Russian losses were estimated at 13,000 soldiers. In February 2024, Russian losses were estimated at 47,000 soldiers killed and wounded. The dynamics of battles in this direction did not decrease as time went on; Russia's total losses during 13 months of fighting in the Pokrovsk direction amount to about 150,000 soldiers killed and wounded. This is more than Russia's losses in the battles for Bakhmut (100,000).
Only the
visually confirmed losses of the Russian army during the 13 months of fighting in the Pokrovsk region amount to 1,800 units of armor. The real losses are even greater.
How much is that? The number of Russian casualties in the Battle of Pokrovsk is close to the number of the Western Military District as of 2022, which included three armies: the 1st Tank Army, the 6th and 20th General Armies.
The Western Military District of the Russian Federation was supposed to oppose the armed forces of NATO on the territory of Europe, and the First Tank Army was Putin's greatest pride (the largest tank army in the world). Imagine if some general proposed an offensive plan that involved the loss of three armies in battles for two small cities with a total pre-war population of 95,000 (Avdiivka and Pokrovsk). Any country would recognize this as madness.
Russia lost more tanks at Pokrovsk than any country in Europe has in its army. Or more soldiers than the entire Armed Forces of the United Kingdom. Remember this when you read the news about the battles for a small town in eastern Ukraine.
Perhaps in the future historians will have to revise the term "Pyrrhic victory" and replace it with "Putin's offensive". But it does not seem that Putin and his generals are capable of abandoning the continuation of the offensive on Pokrovsk, no matter the cost to the Russian army.
It is hard to believe, but the Russian losses of armored vehicles at Pokrovsk are greater than the losses of the German army in the Battle of Stalingrad. The Battle of Pokrovsk may become one of the largest offensives in history in terms of the number of armored vehicles lost.
For every kilometer of occupied territory in this direction, Russia loses 10-15 times more resources than in all other directions. This testifies to Putin's obsession with showing everyone that the Russian army does not stop, but continues to advance, no matter the cost.
It is likely that in the coming months no less brutal battles and frontal attacks by the Russian army await us. These months will be the culmination of the Pokrovsk offensive. An offensive in which Russia will lose three armies to assert the ambitions of its dictator.
Source:
transferred $20 Billion usd to the World Bank, for distribution to Ukraine. The money is part of a larger $50 Billion usd loan, the remaining $30 Billion usd of which will released by the remainder of the G7. 
announced a $20 Billion usd loan to Ukraine, the State Department approved a $266 Million usd foreign Military sales package for the upgrade and upkeep of Ukraine's F-16 Fighter Jets. This news comes just a couple days after Denmark 
announced the transfer of additional F-16s to Ukraine.
, The Netherlands 
, Poland 
and Romania 
. As more pilots qualify on the airframe and the current pilots build their skill sets, it's expected that Ukraine will expand the role of their F-16s, using them to support ground formations closer to the front and to provide some forms of of CAS against advancing Russian units.
