This article, headlined "Soaring Death Toll Gives Grim Insight Into Russian Tactics", is yet another exercise in anti-Russian and pro-war propaganda by @EricSchmittNYT of the @nytimes. The article consists entirely of assertions that are unsupported by documented facts. 1/
https://twitter.com/EricSchmittNYT/status/1621342050753953792
Schmitt's article begins by declaring that the "number of Russian troops killed and wounded in #Ukraine is approaching 200,000," a figure based on claims from "American and other Western officials." 2/
He then notes that General Mark A. Milley estimated as recently as November that Russian dead and wounded were in the area of 100,000. Schmitt then reports that "officials said privately that the numbers were closer to 120,000." 3/
Next, Schmitt cites Norwegian Gen. Erik Kristoffersen's estimate that Russia has suffered 180,000 dead and wounded. Finally, he reports, "Senior U.S. officials said this week that they believe the number for Russia is closer to 200,000." 4/
So is the number of Russian dead and wounded 100,000, 120,000, 180,000 or 200,000? Nowhere in his article does Schmitt provide independently verified factual information for any of these casualty figures. 5/
In his one concession to reality, Schmitt admits that he had received an email from Kristoffersen, which stated that there is "much uncertainty regarding these numbers, as no one at the moment are able to give a good overview. They could be both lower or even higher." 6/
In a particularly disgusting display of his effort to dehumanize Russia and Russians, Schmitt cites an email from Kusti Salm, an Estonian Defense Department official closely connected to NATO: "In Russia the life of a soldier is worth nothing." 7/
There is no question that the number of Russian deaths, even if they are a fraction of what Schmitt and his US government and NATO sources claim, represent a terrible human toll. The same is true for Ukrainian losses. This is a terrible war. 8/
But the purpose of Schmitt's article is to support the propaganda narrative, concocted by the Biden administration, that Ukraine is winning the war and, if provided with the weapons it demands, will defeat Russia. 9/
In reality, whatever the scale of Russian losses, Ukraine is being bled white in a catastrophic #proxywar into which it was thrust by US-NATO imperialism. 10/10
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