TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ukrainian military on Tuesday, Feb. 7, claimed to have killed 1,030 Russian soldiers over the last day. Ukraine said that the last 24 hours were the deadliest of the war so far for Russian troops, as Moscow deploys tens of thousands of freshly mobilized soldiers and mercenaries.

This raises the tally of Russian casualties to 133,190, which Ukraine said to be the highest of the war so far. They also said that the Ukrainian side has destroyed 25 Russian tanks in the last two days.

The report could not be independently confirmed, while Moscow has denied its forces suffered said losses. The Russians on the contrary have also claimed to have killed huge numbers of Ukrainians.

The Russo-Ukraine war will soon enter its second year at a pivotal juncture, with Moscow attempting to regain the initiative, while Kyiv waits for Western tanks for counter-strikes.

After failing to capture Kyiv last year and losing ground through the second half of 2022, Moscow is now making full use of hundreds of thousands of troops called up over the past few months, in its first mobilization since World War Two.

Kyiv and the West claimed that Russia has been deploying additional troops into eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, in hopes of being able to claim new gains.

So far, Moscow has yet to capture a single major population center in its winter campaign, despite thousands of its soldiers killed.

The Russians "lack munitions and maneuver units required for a successful offensive", Britain's Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence update.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk province predicted a big Russian offensive there that could begin around February 15.

REUTERS

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News