Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine’s counteroffensive was a failure as massive number of troops and foreign mercenaries were killed.
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The Ukrainian military has lost "more than" 26,000 troops in the course of its counteroffensive, Putin said on Sunday during talks in St. Petersburg with his visiting Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin further commented on the operations of foreign mercenaries fighting against Russia on Kiev’s behalf, underlining that they had suffered heavy losses "due to their stupidity."
"As far as foreign mercenaries are concerns, they are also taking heavy casualties," Putin said as cited in report by Sputnik News.
"Members of the general public of the countries whose governments are sending people to the conflict zone today should also be aware of what is happening there. And we will bring this to the attention of the people so that they can evaluate the actions of their rulers," the Russian president then added.
The remarks came after Russia’s military estimated on Saturday that nearly 5,000 foreign mercenaries had been killed while fighting in Ukraine since the outset of Moscow’s military operation last February, with over 4,900 fleeing the combat zone and leaving Ukraine.
Lukashenko was also cited in the report as saying that over 15 German-made Leopard tanks and 20 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles used by Ukraine had recently been destroyed during combat in a span of 24 hours.
Putin appeared to confirm the figures, adding that "so many foreign [pieces of armor] had never been destroyed in one day like this," and that Russian forces seem to have struck units equipped entirely with foreign equipment.
While Poland has already become actively involved in the Ukrainian conflict by providing Kiev with military hardware, recent reports indicate that Warsaw could take its efforts up a notch.
Lukashenko accused Poland of trying to "rip off a western chunk" of Ukraine, saying the transfer of Western Ukraine to Poland would be an unacceptable scenario for Minsk and vowed to help the region if it asks for assistance.
Meanwhile, Warsaw has said it would strengthen its eastern border after Wagner fighters arrived in Belarus.
Speaking with members of Russia's Security Council on Friday, President Putin has also warned that the Polish leadership may be planning to send troops to Ukraine in the near future.
He said Warsaw likely hopes to form a coalition “under NATO’s umbrella” to directly intervene in the Ukrainian conflict in order to seize the territories of modern-day West Ukraine.
During the meeting, Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also said that Warsaw was considering capturing western territories of Ukraine by deploying its own troops to the region as part of a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian security initiative.
