Russian military is running out of steam in the Donbas

It has been 180 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. On Monday, the Russian military has likely run out of steam in eastern Ukraine.

The war in the Donbas

Over the past 24 hours, the Russian forces launched several ground assaults in the direction of Slovyansk (in the north of the Donbas), Siversk (in the northeast of the Donbas), Bakhmut (in the south of the Donbas), and west of Donetsk City. Despite the large number of attacks, the Russian military failed to make any meaningful progress, a recurring theme in eastern Ukraine.

Indeed for almost three months, the Russian military has been trying to breach the Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine but has failed to advance more than 10 miles in total, and in a lot of places, it has only advanced a couple of miles.

“Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine have likely exhausted the limited momentum they gained at the end of July and are likely culminating. The Russian military has shown a continual inability to translate small tactical gains into operational successes, a failing that will likely prevent Russia from making significant territorial advances in the coming months barring major changes on the battlefield,” the Institute for the Study of War assessed in its latest operational update.

Russian casualties

Every day, the Ukrainian military is providing an update on their claimed Russian casualties. These numbers are official figures and haven’t been separately verified.

However, Western intelligence assessments and independent reporting corroborate, to a certain extent, the Ukrainian casualty claims. For example, the Oryx open-source intelligence research page has visually verified the destruction or capture of almost 950 Russian tanks (which amounts to more tanks than the combined armor capabilities of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom) and more than 5,100 military vehicles of all types; this assessment has been confirmed by the British Ministry of Defense.

The same independent verification exists for most of the other Ukrainian claims. Recently, the Pentagon acknowledged that the Russian military has lost thousands of combat vehicles of all types, including over 1,000 tanks, and dozens of fighter jets and helicopters.

Furthermore, more recent reports that are citing Western intelligence officials indicate that the Russian military has suffered up to 20,000 fatalities in the war so far. Sir Tony Radakin, the British Chief of the Defence Staff, recently told the BBC that the West understands that more than 50,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the conflict thus far. If we were to take the Ukrainian figures as accurate, the number mentioned by Sir Radakin is on the low side of the spectrum.

Russian tank trapped — A Russian tank is trapped after Ukrainian forces detonated the bridge earlier in the war. (File photo)

Yet, it is very hard to verify the actual numbers unless one is on the ground. However, after adjusting for the fog of war and other factors, the Western official numbers are fairly close to the Ukrainian claims.

As of Monday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is claiming the following Russian casualties:

45,400 Russian troops killed (approximately three times that number wounded and captured)
4,230 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles destroyed
3,149 vehicles and fuel tanks
1,919 tanks
1,032 artillery pieces
815 tactical unmanned aerial systems
234 fighter, attack, and transport jets
266 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS)
198 attack and transport helicopters
194 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses
141 anti-aircraft batteries
99 special equipment platforms, such as bridging equipment
15 boats and cutters
four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems

Over the past weeks, the rate of Russian casualties has slowed down despite continuous pressure and offensive operations in the Donbas. This suggests two things: First, the Russian commanders are taking a more cautious approach to their offensive operations, fully utilizing combined arms warfare to achieve their goals; and second, the Ukrainian forces are running out of combat power or ammunition — and this is expected after six months of war against the Russian military. Recent reports from the ground suggest that both of these factors are true, and that the fatigue of warfare is catching up on both sides.

Ukrainian soldiers train with NLAWs — Ukrainian Ground Forces soldiers training with NLAWs donated by the U.K. prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Ukrainian Joint Forces Task Force)

For most of May, the Russian military suffered the greatest casualties around the Slovyansk, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhzhia areas, reflecting the heavy fighting that was going on there. As the days and weeks went on, most of the heavy fighting shifted toward the direction of Bakhmut, southeast of Slovyansk, around Severodonetsk, Lyman, and Lysychansk.

Then the location of the heaviest casualties shifted again westwards toward the area of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — where one of Europe’s largest nuclear plants is located — as a result of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in and around the area.

Then, the concentration of casualties once more shifted back to the Donbas, and especially in and around Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the two urban centers the Russians managed to capture lately.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces continued to inflict the heaviest casualties in the direction of Donetsk City.

The stated goal of the Russian military for the renewed offensive in the east is to establish full control over the pro-Russian breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and create and maintain a land corridor between these territories and the occupied Crimea.

Author

Stavros Atlamazoglou

Greek Army veteran (National service with 575th Marines Battalion and Army HQ). Johns Hopkins University. You will usually find him on the top of a mountain admiring the view and wondering how he got there.

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