Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
This comes as the top commander of the Ukrainian drone forces says that the drone forces are eliminating more Russian troops than Moscow can replenish.
In an interview with The Economist, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned armed forces (drones), Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, said that since the beginning of 2026, Ukrainian drone troops have inflicted heavy casualties on Russian forces.
In fact, Ukraine has managed to eliminate 8,776 more troops than the Russians have been able to replenish, the commander claims.
Despite the losses, Russian forces keep pushing, and the past week saw heavy fighting at the front in Ukraine.
But the losses have been massive.
More than 8,000 gone
Russian forces stepped up attacks in recent days, but the gains appear limited. Ukrainian officials say the intensified push has instead led to significant battlefield losses.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined the situation after meeting top military commanders, describing a week marked by costly assaults and little progress.
Speaking on March 22, Zelenskyy said the Russian military’s increased operations had failed to deliver meaningful results.
“The only tangible result for the Russian army has been an increase in their losses—just over the past seven days, more than 8,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or seriously wounded,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.
Mounting losses
According to Zelenskyy, Russian leadership is beginning to reassess conditions on the ground, which may differ from earlier internal reports.
He said some brigade commanders have already been removed for providing inaccurate updates to superiors.
“Some of their brigade-level commanders have already been replaced as punishment for false reporting. However, this will not help the occupier,” he added.
Despite the pressure, Ukraine reports that front lines in the Donetsk region have seen little change over the past week.
Defensive impact
Earlier reports from Ukrainian engineering units pointed to notable results from defensive measures in February.
According to official data, 678 Russian soldiers were killed on engineering barriers, alongside the destruction of 120 pieces of military equipment and 19 additional targets.
These figures underline Ukraine’s continued reliance on defensive tactics to counter larger offensive movements.
Sources: Ukrainian presidential office statements on Telegram, The Economist, United24Media
