Ukraine’s courageous defenders have managed to kill 9,000 Russian soldiers in the first seven days of Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion of their country.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Moscow that Russian money will pay for the rebuilding of every single house destroyed in the war. Thursday, March 3, marked the eighth day of conflict.
Russia’s Staggering Military Losses Are Piling Up
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, as of Thursday morning, Russian aggressors have suffered very substantial losses.
A total of 9,000 Russian troops are said to have been killed; hundreds of others have been captured alive.
The Ukrainian authorities are using the POWs to make anti-war social media videos by having each survivor call his mother in Russia, tell her the truth about the bloody war, and instruct her to speak out.
A report by The Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian news site, posted a voice message by a weeping woman from a small town in Russia’s Altai region in Siberia.
She said a detachment of 150 local soldiers had only 18 survivors after their entire tank column was ambushed and obliterated by Ukrainian defenders near the northeastern city of Sumy.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, besides killing 9,000 Russian invaders, the Ukrainian resistance also managed to down 30 Russian military airplanes, 31 Russian attack helicopters, and three Russian drones.
⚡️Ukraine's armed forces, border guards recapture Ukraine's state border in Sumy Oblast, according to National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov.
This northern region bordering Russia saw heavy fighting throughout the war.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 3, 2022
⚡️Russian forces strike at residential buildings in central Chernihiv.
According to the Northern Territorial Defense Forces, there is no military infrastructure in the nearby area, only several schools, kindergartens, and a hospital.
Photo: Northern Territorial Defense Forces. pic.twitter.com/Dm8edPWwlA
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 3, 2022
In #Akhtyrka, a #Russian bomb hit a thermal power plant. pic.twitter.com/jDhBSXcDNq
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 3, 2022
⚡️Zelensky: We've been through so much. And if someone thinks that after overcoming all this, Ukrainians, all of us, will be scared, broken, or surrendered, he just doesn't know anything about us. He knows nothing about Ukraine.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 3, 2022
Indicative estimates of Russia's losses as of March 3, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/JYsrG7jIMY
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 3, 2022
Unfortunately, more than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed already by the Russian invaders.
Putin’s forces are increasingly resorting to the carpet-bombing of cities, including by using forbidden cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons.
It seems quite likely that Putin might resort to a nuclear weapons attack on one or more Ukrainian cities; he is getting increasingly infuriated by the stiff resistance of the vastly outgunned Ukrainians.
Putin Vows to Go ‘Until the End’
After eight days of waging war, the Russians have managed to conquer only one major city – Kherson, a city of nearly 300,000 people in Southern Ukraine, near the Black Sea coast and on the Dnieper River.
In a video address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared “all lines” of Ukraine’s defense “are holding”. Zelenskyy earned global acclaim for his courageous leadership in the darkest times for his nation.
He stood firmly in the capital Kyiv and didn’t even consider fleeing, despite the numerous assassins sent by Putin to kill or capture him alive as a war trophy to force him to sign a capitulation agreement.
Zelenskyy stated Russia failed “to destroy us” and those who thought Ukrainians would surrender “know nothing” about his country.
He also insisted Russia must learn the word ‘reparations’ because it is going to reimburse Ukraine “in full” for all the evil and damages.
Late on Thursday, bloody Russian dictator Putin spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, telling him he would go all the way until Ukraine is fully conquered and demilitarized, without any compromise.
#Russian occupant rethinks the invasion of #Ukraine by Russian troops. He does not longer smile during shellings. pic.twitter.com/H7FtXNU41Y
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 3, 2022
The 206th battalion of the #Kyiv terror defense rescued more than 400 women and children from #Irpen, which was destroyed and surrounded by #Russian invaders. pic.twitter.com/lMMMznhqGo
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 3, 2022
#Kyiv's air defense shot down a #Russian cruise missile over the city. pic.twitter.com/XiBV50GUVb
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 3, 2022
#Russians in panic buy all the goods in IKEA after its announcement of withdrawal from the #Russian market pic.twitter.com/h3eJnoxGTD
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 3, 2022