Last week the New York Post interviewed a wounded Ukrainian soldier named Ihor, who commented on the southern Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson. He mentioned that Ukraine lost around five soldiers per every Russian soldier they killed.

While this number might seem like a lot, this is expected for an army going into the offensive. Some might even say it is a conservative number as sometimes (in WW2) forces on the offensive would lose ten soldiers per one defendant killed.

This ratio is similar to what was believed Russia lost when they were on the offensive. The estimation claimed that Russia lost around 500 soldiers a day, while Ukraine lost 100 - 200 soldiers a day while taking the defendant role.

Whatever the actual number is, it is natural for Ukraine to lose more soldiers and equipment than Russia on their counteroffensive.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT UKRAINE?

It is currently unknown what are the intentions of this counteroffensive. While its aim could very well be to weaken Russia, it could also be looking to be a propaganda victory, to show the world that Ukraine can win the war if adequately supported.

In any case, given Ukraine's manpower and equipment shortages (compared to Russia's), it presents a risky strategy for the Ukrainian high command.

That being said, it is also likely that the Ukrainian military poses a more detailed intelligence picture that suggests it would be their advantage to conduct a counteroffensive despite depleting their men and equipment stockpiles.

END OF REPORT

Image Credit: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons