Putin Lost Over 1,100 Soldiers In A Week In Bakhmut, Says Zelenskyy: 'Russia's Irreversible Loss'

Amid intense fighting in Bakhmut, Russian President Vladimir Putin lost over 1,100 soldiers in less than a week and over 1500 were injured. 

What Happened: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday in his nightly video address, said, “In less than a week, starting from 6th March, we managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone, Russia’s irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut.”

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Zelenskyy also pointed out that Russia sustained 1,500 “sanitary losses” – the soldiers that were wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action. He added that dozens of pieces of enemy equipment were destroyed, as were more than 10 Russian ammunition depots.

The eastern Ukrainian city has become a focal point in a grinding war of attrition for Russia that has been trying to take for months. Capturing Bakhmut would push Moscow slightly closer to its goal of controlling the entire Donetsk region – one of four areas in eastern and southern Ukraine annexed by Russia last year. 

Putin's ally Yevgeny Prigozhin-led private mercenary group Wagner is at the heart of the Russian assault on Bakhmut. Prigozhin has staked his reputation, and that of his private army, on seizing Bakhmut.

The situation in the city was “difficult, very difficult, the enemy is fighting for every meter,” Prigozhin said on Sunday in a voice recording published on Telegram, adding that we “will start recruiting new people from the regions.”

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