Illustrative image: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS
The Armed Forces of Ukraine “have suffered significant losses”, according to a report released by the Ministry of Defense of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) published on May 21.
According to the intelligence report, from April 30 to May 20 Ukrainian forces lost 282 service members, including 43 killed people and 239 sanitary losses. The “significant losses” coincided with the shift of power in the zone of operation to a deputy chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Sergei Nayev.
The report published on the official site of the DPR revealed that this data had leaked from a counterintelligence department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The leaked document from the SBU allegedly affirmed the necessity to discharge Sergei Nayev from his post “as an incompetent commander who is incapable of fulfilling adequately the tasks set by the supreme commander-in-chief.”
The document of the SBU reported that since the launch of the operation in Donbass on April 14, 2014 Ukrainian forces have lost 16,727 people, including 3,827 dead fighters and 12,901 sanitary losses. Weapons and armaments losses are 3,214 pieces.
According to the SBU report, 7,493 servicemen “have left their line of duty without permission” and 2,069 of them are put in the wanted list.
The SBU stated that the operation command of the Ukrainian forces disguises most of casualties describing them as deserters.
