50,000 Russians killed or wounded, British say
Russia has lost more than 30% of its land combat effectiveness in Ukraine, but military issues won’t prompt regime change in the invading country, Britain’s top military official said Sunday.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of defense staff, dismissed any suggestion that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be toppled or assassinated as “wishful thinking.” But Ukraine’s spirited defense, aided by NATO weaponry, has set back Russian plans for swift victory, he said.
“What that actually means is 50,000 Russian soldiers that have either died or been injured in this conflict,” Radakin told the BBC. “Nearly 1,700 Russian tanks destroyed, nearly 4,000 armored fighting vehicles that belong to Russia destroyed.”
Still, Putin’s regime is viewed as stable and the Russian president continues to easily quash opposition, Radakin said. Russia’s hierarchy is “invested” in Putin, he said, removing the motivation to challenge his authority.
Latest updates:
►The White House warned that Russia is trying to acquire “attack capable” unmanned aerial vehicles from Iran and said it had intelligence that Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice to view the weapons-capable drones.
►Ukraine reported at least 17 more civilians killed on Saturday in Russian attacks with missiles and shelling throughout the country.
‘Evil cannot win’: Funeral held for girl, 4, killed in rocket attack
Dozens of relatives, friends and residents in the central city of Vinnytsia gathered Sunday to say goodbye to 4-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, Dmitrieva was one of 24 people killed in a July 14 rocket attack. Photos from the scene show the girl’s body lying in a tiny coffin covered in teddy bears and flowers. Liza, who had Down syndrome, and her mother had just left a speech therapist when the attack took place. She died instantly; her mother remains hospitalized in serious condition with an abdominal injury.
“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm,” priest Vitalii Holoskevych said at the Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia. ‘’We know that evil cannot win.”
The Ukraine military said the cruise missiles were fired from a submarine hundreds of miles away in the Black Sea. Two boys, 7 and 8, also died in the assault, officials said. About 200 people were injured, 80 were hospitalized.
Russia reinforces gains near Crimea, elsewhere
Russian airstrikes are focused on Mykolaiv, a city in southern Ukraine that is near the Black Sea coast between Russian-occupied Crimea and the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the Russian missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility in the city, a key shipbuilding center in the estuary of the Southern Bug river. There was no immediate information about casualties.
The attacks are part of a larger effort by the Kremlin to shore up its positions near Crimea, we well as the Zaporizhzhia region in the north, according to the latest update from the British Defense Ministry on Sunday. At the same time, Ukrainian troops are pushing back.
“Ukrainian forces have been applying pressure on the Russian defensive line in Kherson Oblast for over a month now,…
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