Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The Battle of Bakhmut has been called the bloodiest battle in the 21st century.
In a recent episode of Latvian TV24’s Current Affairs on the War in Ukraine, Latvian National Armed Forces Major and National Guard Staff Officer Jānis Slaidiņš said that Russian military blogger Maxim Kalashnikov has become “uncomfortable” for the Kremlin’s propaganda narrative.
According to Slaidiņš, Kalashnikov’s rhetoric has noticeably cooled as the war drags into its fourth year.
Kalashnikov, a prominent “Z” blogger known for his early pro-Kremlin stance, has publicly acknowledged that Russia’s efforts to seize the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk have resulted in severe casualties.
His comments directly contradict President Vladimir Putin’s recent claims that the city is already surrounded.
Cracks in the narrative
In his statement, Kalashnikov described the situation as “complex,” saying Russian forces had not yet completed the encirclement of Pokrovsk and were being forced into costly urban fighting.
“What is the complexity of the situation for us? The fact is that we have not yet geographically completed the encirclement of Pokrovsk. Therefore, we are forced to fight for the cities. And the losses there are very high. For us, they are comparable to the battle for Bakhmut,” he said, according to Latvijas Avīze.
The blogger recalled that the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had previously cited losses of around 20,000 Wagner fighters in Bakhmut, with comparable numbers among Russian army units.
He compared those figures to the Wehrmacht’s total losses during its 1939 invasion of Poland.
Comparisons and consequences
Slaidiņš, commenting on the remarks, pointed out the scale of Kalashnikov’s comparison.
“Poland is a large country, and the Poles actively resisted at the time,” he said. “At that time, they did not resist the Red Army because all forces were focused on the Germans.”
Drawing a contrast between past and present warfare, Slaidiņš added: “There was a war of maneuvers and tanks. Now everything happens only on two-legged creatures.”
The officer’s comments suggest that even once-loyal pro-Kremlin voices are beginning to reveal the heavy toll of Russia’s prolonged campaign in Ukraine, exposing cracks in the tightly controlled information front.
How many troops did Russia lose at Bakhmut?
The Battle of Bakhmut has been described as the bloodiest battle of the 21st century.
Estimates of losses vary greatly, but as mentioned, Prigozhin stated that 20,000 Wagner mercenaries and former convicts sent to fight had been killed by May 24, 2023.
However, days later, a former Russian officer and military blogger, Igor Girkin, estimated that the actual number was likely double that, with 15,000 mercenaries and 25,000 convicts dead.
Including the wounded, total losses are estimated at about 80,000—out of a starting strength of 85,000.
Sources: TV24, Reuters, BBC, AP, Latvijas Avīze, Euromaidan Press
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation
