Comments by "Hookah Smoking Caterpillar" (@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar) on "Russian hardliners put pressure on Putin | DW News" video.

The only people who would claim russian casualties are that low are the russian government, and calling then "human rights activists" is a bit like calling Stalin a humanitarian.
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@rollout2926 And the relevance of that to the number of claimed russian casualty figures is?
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@rollout2926 Never once 'liked' my own comments. You should stop projecting.
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@chadbernard2641 Ukraine has not reported any figures. They have quite categorically stated that they have no intention of doing so, you only have to look at their response to von der Leyen's figure the other day.
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@elbibwen3019 I never said he was, or indeed, wasn't. Your point is utterly irrelevant.
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@Dan-Martin Whilst that may be true to some extent the figure if 9,000 is unbelievable. Also, don't forget the early campaigns in the north if Ukraine were entirely russian troops, as were those in the south. russia had an estimated 200,000 troops on Ukraine's borders at the start of the war. Finally, if russian casualties were low there would be no need for mobilisation.
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@chadbernard2641 The Ukrainians have explained how they calculate their estimation of russian KIAs a number of times. Go look it up, it's not an unreasonable formula, but it is an estimation, though one they have used consistently since the start of the war. You can choose to disagree with their formula, which is fine if you have a rational reason to do so, but it does provide a ball park figure which seems to have been verified by russian documents on funds allocated for compensation for deaths in combat.
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@joemammon6149 This has nothing to do with Ukraine casualty figures, but russia's. Try and stay on topic, there's a good chap.
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@WintergardenPL Yet Putin claims to have annexed them, so clearly from his point if view they are.
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@Mr Murders Whilst I agree with your final point the rest is less than persuasive. russia declaring war or not is irrelevant, there would be nothing they aren't doing now that they wouldn't do in such a situation. The only difference would be that they could declare a mass mobilisation, but given that they manifestly cannot equip and train the partial mobilisation they currently have that would be an academic exercise. The only rule of thumb about ratios is that 5:1 is considered the minimum for assaulting an urban stronghold. Although the russians seized a sizeable amount of territory, they keep losing it. The evidence so far is not so much that it is incremental loss but large scale over a short period of time. That there appears to be some form of hiatus has been largely the result of the weather turning the ground to mud, and I gather after a short cold snap temperatures are about to rise again - so more mud. On the basis of past experience this is not so much Russia holding the ground as Ukraine preparing to reclaim the next chunk of its territory.
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