20,000 Russian troops dead so far during invasion !

[TonyO]

(details taken from various news agencies)

Warsaw, Poland – The United Kingdom could send tanks to Poland to allow Warsaw to provide Ukraine with its own, the Financial Times reported, speaking during a trip to India, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Western countries should do more to help Ukraine and “intensify pressure on Putin”.

The UK Ministry of Defence said on Friday: "The [UK] is exploring sending British Challenger 2 Tanks to [Poland], The Czech Republic has already sent T72s to Kyiv, "While no decisions have been taken, these would be deployed on a short-term basis and operated by UK personnel to bridge the gap between Poland donating tanks to Ukraine and replacements arriving."

Such a tank deal would be a boost to Ukraine's hopes of fighting the Russians invading through the separatist Donbas region in the east.

Maj Gen Rustam Minnekayev, who serves as deputy commander of Russia's central military district, said: "Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population," his reference to Transnistria will worry European observers. It is a breakaway region in Moldova where some Russian troops are based.

Russia has previously used claims of "oppression" to justify its operations in Ukraine, Its invasion has gone badly compared to what the Kremlin is thought to have hoped to have achieved by now, the military had to give up on its push to the capital, Kyiv, an apparent attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected government there, and instead focus on the east and south.

The Kremlin looks desperate for the chance to show Russians it has achieved tangible goals after it was later humiliated by the sinking of the Moskva, the Black Sea fleet's flagship, It has tried to declare victory in Mariupol even as Ukrainians deny the city, which has been levelled in Russia's bloody onslaught, has completely fallen.

Nexta, a Belarusian media outlet and scourge of the country's pro-Putin despot Alexander Lukashenko, said on Friday that Russian casualty figures appeared to have been accidentally leaked, "Pro-Kremlin resource Readovka reported about the death of 13,414 Russian soldiers while around 7,000 are being missed," Nexta tweeted, "These numbers were announced at a closed briefing of Russia's Ministry of Defence. The post by Readovka has already been deleted."

The British Ministry of Defence said while Russia may seek to change its approach to operations in Ukraine in light of its poor performance, it is likely to continue to rely on bombardments to suppress the defenders and will be "frustrated" by being unable to overcome its opponents quickly.