Ukraine Lost Nearly 3,000 Soldiers in Battles With Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup Last Week

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The losses come in addition to over 5,000 more Ukrainian soldiers eliminated by other battlegroups over the same time period.

"The enemy lost up to 2,975 military personnel, 22 armored combat vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier and two multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement about the Tsentr Battlegroup's gains over the last seven days.

Meanwhile, the Zapad Battlegroup eliminated more than 1,610 Ukrainian soldiers, the Yug Battlegroup more than 1,135 and the Vostok Battlegroup more than 1,360 over the given period, the ministry said, adding that in battles with Russia's Sever Battlegroup, Kiev lost over 1,150 soldiers.

At the same time, the Russian armed forces have carried out 10 group strikes on military including with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, on Ukrainian military and industrial complex enterprises and Ukrainian armed forces facilities in past week, the ministry also said.

Also Russian air defense forces have shot down 27 guided aerial bombs, six US-made HIMARS missiles, and 2,049 Ukrainian drones in past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"Air defense systems shot down 27 guided aerial bombs, six US-made HIMARS multiple launch missiles, a Czech-made Vampire multiple launch rocket, four Neptune long-range guided missiles, and 2,049 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian air forces have destroyed four Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers, the ministry added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250725/ukraine-lost-nearly-3000-soldiers-in-battles-with-russias-tsentr-battlegroup-last-week-1122491029.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

EDITORIAL FROM STRATEGIC CULTURE

Kiev kleptocracy… Stench of corruption fouls NATO regime’s endgame

Previously, any observer who had pointed out the rampant corruption that is endemic in the Kiev regime was automatically denounced by Western governments and media as a peddler of Russian disinformation.

Hilariously, though, this week, the Kiev kleptocracy burst open in such a spectacular way that even the American and European apologists for the regime could no longer maintain the worst-kept secret of their charade.

The fiasco exploded after the self-appointed President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, passed a law that stripped two anti-corruption agencies of their independent powers.

Citizens took to the streets of Kiev and other cities in furious protest against what they openly lambasted as an autocratic regime trying to prolong its corrupt racketeering. The demonstrations were the largest seen on the streets of Ukraine despite the country being at war with Russia for over three years. As the Wall Street Journal reported: “The protests exposed long dormant divisions between the government and society.”

Zelensky, whose official presidential mandate expired last year, was stunned by the upsurge in public anger. By the end of the week, he was backtracking on the move to close the anti-graft agencies and was claiming, somewhat unconvincingly, that he was drafting a new bill to return the investigative powers. It was damage-limitation mode and largely prompted by the alarm of his Western backers.

It is not clear if the U-turn will appease the Ukrainian public, who appear to have reached a pivotal level of disgust with the Kiev regime, not just over its endemic corruption but also over the grinding war with Russia and forced mobilization of reluctant military recruits.

Significantly, the Western governments and media also reacted with extraordinary contempt towards Zelensky and his ruling circle. Western media headlines highlighted the problem of corruption in Ukraine and Zelensky’s brazen attempt to curb the anti-corruption organizations. The Washington Post reported: “Ukrainians protest as Zelensky cracks down on corruption watchdogs.” Ditto, among others, The New York Times, Time, CNN, France 24, The Economist, BBC, and even the usually supportive CIA-run Radio Free Europe. With remarkable uniformity, the Western media were condemning their erstwhile favorite “Churchillian figure”. Even the slavishly supportive U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham rebuked Zelensky. Were they all of a sudden drinking Russian Kool-Aid?

The Wall Street Journal reported: “Ukrainians ramp up protests as Zelensky tries to find a way out.” Likewise, the BBC headlined: “Zelensky backtracks on law over anticorruption bodies after protests.”

There are signs that the scandal has gone too far for Zelensky to now try to put the stench back in the bottle.

This is what the staunchest backers of the Kiev regime are really worried about. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were among the European leaders who vigorously remonstrated with Zelensky over the corruption debacle. Von der Leyen chided Zelensky that anti-corruption was key to the country’s path towards eventually joining the EU, if it ever does, which, like its aspiration to join NATO, is doubtful.

What worries the NATO sponsors of the proxy war against Russia is that the corruption in Kiev will hasten a disorderly collapse of the regime. And with that, their long-term geopolitical game to confront and weaken Russia is over. The news of corruption is hardly new, and the Western governments know that. Pentagon auditors have long noted the vast amount of money that has disappeared unaccountably under Zelensky.

The racketeering has become even more brazen since Zelensky declared martial law and cancelled elections last year, making him a self-appointed president indefinitely. The Ukrainian people have had it with his crony rule, while thousands of men are killed and maimed every week on the front lines. Adding to the public anger and resistance are the goon squads that the regime dispatches to drag men off the streets to be sent to the front lines and certain death. Videos increasingly show Ukrainian communities standing up to snatch squads who are terrorizing them.

The shutting down of the anti-graft agencies by Zelensky is part of the regime’s desperate endgame. Last month, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) charged Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov with embezzlement. He is close to Zelensky and Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Thus, the investigators were making inroads into Zelensky’s inner circle of racketeering. Even the Kyiv Independent news outlet predicted last month that Zelensky would strike at the NABU and its partner anti-graft agency, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Indeed, this is exactly what happened this week when the regime raided the offices of the two organizations, arresting officers under suspicion of being “Russian spies” and then rushing through a law to remove the independent powers of investigation. Under the new law, NABU and SAPO will be controlled by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, who is a political appointee of Zelensky. In other words, muzzled.

Since the NATO proxy war against Russia erupted in February 2022, which the West lies about as Russia’s “unprovoked aggression,” it is estimated that NATO and EU nations have funneled over $300 billion into propping up the Kiev regime. The true figure may be $500 billion or higher. It has been a scam of historic scale perpetrated on Western taxpayers. As much as 30 to 40 percent of the money has disappeared through corruption, benefiting Zelensky and his cronies. The largesse has funded the purchase of luxury properties in foreign destinations, as well as his wife’s holidays to St Moritz and shopping trips in New York and Paris. But hey, this is just Russian propaganda, right?

The gargantuan racket is in danger of falling apart as the Russian military advances like lava on the crumbling Kiev regime, as independent geopolitical analyst Mark Sleboda eloquently put it this week. Additionally, like a pincer, the corruption probes are inevitably closing in on Zelensky and his circle.

In this desperate bunker situation, Zelensky’s response is to shut down the graft investigations and to project a seriousness about peace talks with Russia. There was a third round of talks in Istanbul this week. But, as Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Artem Dmytruk pointed out in an interview for RT, the peace negotiations are a sham simply to prolong the corrupt regime.

Western sponsors are finally admitting the rank corruption that has existed for many years. The stench is no longer bearable or possible to cover up. But what really concerns the NATO planners is that if the Ukrainian people are not placated – and it looks like they will not buy any more of Zelensky’s putrid clown show – then the proxy warmongers are facing an urgent dilemma. Mixed with the pong of graft is the even more obnoxious smell of ignominious defeat.

Zelensky, the former comedian, is beyond a bad joke. Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh reported this week that U.S. President Donald Trump is making plans for Zelensky’s ouster. Hersh quoted an involved U.S. official saying that if the Kiev puppet refuses to quit, “he’s going to go by force.”

The Kiev regime of Neo-Nazis and embezzlers was always built on a massive propaganda deception. The lie that it was a democracy standing for Western values of freedom. The sewer gates are opening as the endgame approaches. It’s not just the Kiev cabal that will be swept away. Western leaders are up to their necks, too.

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/07/25/kiev-kleptocracy-stench-of-corruption-fouls-nato-regimes-endgame/

READ FROM TOP.

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.