The First Week Of November, 2024 Was A Brutal And Deadly One In Ukraine

Winter is fast approaching in Ukraine. We have a new president elected here in the U.S. Despite these factors, the war in Ukraine is still going at its full intensity. A Russian major general Pavel Kimenko was killed by a Ukraine drone. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war 18 Russian generals and one Russian admiral have been killed. During the first week of November, Newsweek magazine reported that Russia suffered almost 10,000 casualties: Russian forces suffered almost 10,000 casualties in the first week of November, according to figures sourced from Ukraine's Armed Forces. Moscow lost 1,270 on November 1, 1,410 on the second, 1,300 on the third, 1,260 on the fourth, 1,250 on the fifth, 1,400 on the sixth, and 1,580 on the seventh, for 9,470 in total. This figure is slightly higher than the last two months, which saw 8,960 Russian casualties in September and 8,540 in October, according to Kyiv. Russia does not frequently publicize its losses, and analysts are skeptical of reports from both sides. Gauging the true number of casualties on either side is notoriously difficult, with numbers from Russia, Ukraine, and independent analyses differing. Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) meets soldiers during a visit to a military training center of the Western Military District for mobilized reservists outside the town of Ryazan on October 20, 2022. Russian forces suffered... More Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images Newsweek was unable to independently verify the figures and contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment on Saturday, as well as an independent think tank. On Saturday, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense claimed that Vladimir Putin's forces lost 1,660 military personnel in the space of 24 hours, which it said brought Russia's total casualties since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine to 707,540. They seem to be saying that 9,470 military personnel were killed in action. As I have pointed out to you in previous op-eds, for each military person killed there are 3 wounded. This would indicate that approximately 28,410 Russian military personnel were wounded in the first week of November. In a separate incident, Ukraine soldiers discovered the bodies of 563 Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. We have not seen losses like this in a war since the Nazis and Russians fought in World War II during what is known as The Great Patriotic War. In any other country, including authoritarian China, the public would not tolerate losses of that magnitude. People would take to the streets in massive numbers and demand a cessation of hostilities. I am sorry to bring this to your attention on a Sunday. It was so serious that I could not wait. Please be thankful that you are not in Ukraine!