![Ukrainian troops](https://www.newshouse.org/cloner/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2022/06/Ukrainian-troops.jpg)
Even though it is still mauling Ukraine, Russia already lost the war – “strategically” – and has no way to prevail, according to Britain’s highest military commander, Admiral Tony Radakin.
This is an observation he voiced just as the bloodthirsty Moscow dictator got humiliated by a hacking attack.
Alongside the United States and Poland, the UK has been the most active western nation supporting plucky little Ukraine in its fight for freedom.
Russia Failing After ‘Dreadful Mistake’
Ukrainians defied Putin’s vicious plan to make them part of a reborn Soviet Union. They managed to fully defeat the invasion in the north and force invasions in the east and south to grind to a halt.
This forced the Russians to focus solely on the conquest of the Donbass region in Southeast Ukraine, a task at which they have made only minuscule progress in 2.5 months, despite a 20:1 troop advantage.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian defenders continue to inflict devastating losses upon Putin’s hordes, having knocked out more than 80,000 Russian troops and proxies.
The latest brief of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense says, as of Friday morning, after 112 days of fighting, more than 33,150 Russian soldiers have died in combat.
At least 20,000 of the Russian conscripts from the Moscow proxies in the Donbass are also believed to have been killed.
According to the top UK military commander, Admiral Radakin, Russia has become just a “more diminished power.” It is now only able to make “tiny” territory advances, as cited by The Daily Mail.
He emphasized Russia is never going to “take control of Ukraine” and Putin’s invasion of the freedom-loving Ukrainians has been a “dreadful mistake.”
In his words, “Russia is failing” and can score only limited, “tactical successes.”
That has been the case over the past few weeks and may continue for a few more weeks. Putin already wasted about a quarter of his military in order to conquer small swaths of Ukraine.
#Ukraine: In #Mykolaiv Oblast, the 28th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army hit a claimed Russian 2A65 Msta-B 152mm howitzer; which exploded.pic.twitter.com/MkQxF4ShTG
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 16, 2022
#Ukraine: Mortars and 2S1 122mm self-propelled howitzer of the National Guard of Ukraine destroying Russian ammo depots, positions, a BTR armored personnel carrier and BMP infantry fighting vehicles. pic.twitter.com/QJsAvAEqQr
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 17, 2022
#Ukraine: Big news from the Black Sea- the Ukrainian Navy claims to have destroyed the Russian "Vasily Bekh" rescue vessel, as it travelled to the famous Snake Island; it reportedly had a Tor-M2KM SAM system on board.
The strike was filmed by a TB-2 drone; 2 munitions are used. pic.twitter.com/pCjMf2RX4d
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 17, 2022
![](https://www.beyondnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/06/Ukrainian-tank.jpg)
Resorting to the Taliban and the Donbass Proxies
Meanwhile, on Friday, Putin suffered public humiliation when his speech at an annual economic forum in his native city of St. Petersburg got delayed as a result of a cyber-attack.
Putin’s speech had to be postponed by an hour because of a denial of service attack against the forum, the Kremlin announced. His press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said “specialists” were fixing the issue.
The gloomy atmosphere at the St. Petersburg economic forum was underscored by the almost total lack of international presence whose independence Putin recognized three days before launching the invasion.
There was also another “high-profile” foreign presence: representatives of the Taliban terrorists ruling Afghanistan, courtesy of Joe Biden and his loss of the war on terror there last summer.
The appearance of the Taliban envoys was particularly bizarre since their organization is technically outlawed in Russia as a terrorist group.
#Ukraine: More UA innovation: a B-8M1 rocket pod, firing 80mm S-8 pattern rockets from an improvised launcher (Marked "Bees")
The B-8M1 is intended for air use & is shorter range than Grads; but can still be effective.
[Repost, as original was deleted] pic.twitter.com/pbTWntgOBd https://t.co/pGORrDuwjS
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 17, 2022
⚡️These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of June 17, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/572Hghc6hI
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 17, 2022