In the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian army has paid a terrible price. According to the data of the American think tank, the total number of the Ukrainian army has reached 1.9 million, which is a huge number in the size of Ukraine's population and has exceeded Ukraine's capacity. And the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 once reported an even more alarming figure, saying that the number of killed and missing in the Ukrainian army was as high as 11260,000 people, but later changed their words and said that they made a mistake and apologized to the audience. This raises questions about the true magnitude of Ukraine's losses and whether Ukraine will be able to continue fighting.
Ukraine** Zelensky declared that he will do whatever it takes, continue to fight against Russian aggression and recruit more reserve troops, ready to "** His adviser Podolyak also claimed that the Ukrainian army has achieved some "successes" and that Russia has invested "all its resources", but it is still unable to stop the advance of the Ukrainian army. He also said that the Russian army does not have air supremacy, nor has it achieved any territorial superiority, and has always been in a state of passive defense.
However, these claims do not correspond to the facts. Colonel Douglas McGregor, a former US Pentagon adviser, was quoted by the Russian Military Review as saying that Ukraine has been defeated, and Russia has the ability to crush the Ukrainian army, occupy all of Ukraine's land, and even advance to the Polish border. But Russia does not intend to do this, because Russia is not interested in the western regions of Ukraine and will only capture some important regions, and will not set foot in them.
Some experts in the West also believe that Ukraine could lose half of its territory if the war continues. Moreover, there is also a narrative circulating in Kyiv that if Ukraine collapses, neighboring countries may take the opportunity to eat up the territory of Ukraine, such as Poland, Hungary and Romania. This is not groundless, Poland has taken a tougher stance towards Ukraine, even preventing Ukraine from receiving aid, Hungary has not provided Ukraine with any help, and Romania, although it has not stated its position, does not rule out ambitions.
Statistically, the Russian army has built a strong defense system in the occupied territories of Ukraine, which it is difficult for the Ukrainian army to break through. A **deepstate in Ukraine, by analyzing publicly available data and satellite imagery, has created an interactive map showing the details of the fortifications of the Russian army in Ukraine. According to the ** statistics, the total length of the Russian army's fortifications in Ukraine is more than 6,000 kilometers, and the depth has reached 4 kilometers. These fortifications include trenches, anti-tank ditches, dragon's teeth, mines, underground bunkers, etc., which are adapted to the terrain of different areas. In addition, the Russian army has also deployed machine guns, artillery, rocket artillery, anti-tank missiles, armed fighter jets, missiles, etc., forming a multi-level defense network. The Ukrainian army is dominated by infantry and has limited armored forces, which makes it difficult to inflict an effective blow on such a defensive system.
The course of the war was not as simple as Douglas McGregor and Podolyak claimed, both of them for their own purposes and uttered statements that did not correspond to the facts. However, judging by the current situation, the Russian army still has the upper hand, and the Ukrainian army is in a very difficult situation.