Russia has more of everything, says Ukraine's top military commander
The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's military has said that Ukrainian forces can defeat occupying Russian forces, even if Russia does have more of everything.
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper in an exclusive interview, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi has been handed the task of defeating Russia's enormous army.
In the interview, Col Gen Syrskyi said that 100,000 Russian troops originally invaded Ukraine – but that number has since grown to 520,000, with Moscow aiming to end the year with 690,000 personnel in Ukraine.
He said that just like troops Russia has more equipment, with the number of tanks doubling since 2022 and artillery tripling, outlining "there is a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3 in their favour".
He added that Russia has "a significant advantage in force and resources", and for Ukraine, "the issue of supply, the issue of quality, is really at the forefront".
Russia has been pushing Ukrainian forces backwards, attacking cities and regions across the country.
Col Gen Syrskyi said things were "very difficult", but Russia could be halted, but that "depends on our brave soldiers, our officers", adding that often "resilient and heroic" Ukrainian units defeat larger Russian ones.
Col Gen Syrskyi also provided context to recent Ukrainian setbacks, describing Russia's numerous victories as "tactical", but not an "operational" breakthrough.
Moscow had, he said, "not made any significant progress".
And, just as Russia has more personnel, it has also seen a much larger, staggering human cost as a result of its invasion.
According to the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief, Russia's casualties in Ukraine were "three times" higher than Kyiv's.
Despite refusing to give a figure on the number of Ukrainians dead, as it was "sensitive" and a topic Moscow could exploit, he said Russia's "number of killed is much bigger".
He said this was a result of Ukraine not defending "ruins to the death" and not always being willing to "achieve goals at any cost" or throw men at "futile meat assaults".
Col Gen Syrskyi said F-16 fighter jets would help Ukraine's air defence, but they will have to stay away from the frontline as Russia could shoot them down.
Ukraine has also been turning to unmanned aerial systems because Russia has "superior aviation" and "very strong" air defences.
He said Ukrainian forces are using drones "very effectively", adding that drones played "as big a role as artillery" and Kyiv is fighting "not by quantity but quality".
He finished the interview by saying it was "realistic" Ukraine could take back Crimea more than 10 years after Russia and Vladimir Putin annexed it.
Col Gen Syrskyi said Ukraine would do whatever it could "to reach the internationally recognised borders of 1991" – the year it broke from the Soviet Union.
"We have to win... to liberate our citizens who are in the occupied territories, who are suffering," he said.
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