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Ukrainian losses tripled compared to several months ago, US military instructor says

Erik Kramer said he doesn’t believe the Ukrainian counteroffensive will be a success

NEW YORK, July 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian losses have tripled compared to several months ago, Erik Kramer, a US special forces veteran now training Kiev’s troops, told Newsweek in an interview published on Wednesday.

"There's a lot of casualties," Kramer was quoted as saying. "I've got some of my guys working a casualty collection point. And I don't want to say numbers, because it's all just anecdotal, but they're seeing triple the amount of casualties they saw a few months ago. It's pretty horrific."

The US veteran said he doesn’t believe the Ukrainian counteroffensive will be a success. Still, he said "Ukrainians have to use everything they've got in the counteroffensive" or risk losing Western support. Kramer said "support from the West is going to get less and less."

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had been making unsuccessful attempts at an offensive since June 4. On July 11, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukrainian losses of servicemen had exceeded 26,000 since the start of the counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukrainian troops had no success in any area.

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