Air Assault Forces Commander Says Russian Advance Has Slowed 'Very Significantly'

The pace of the Russian military’s advance along the front line has slowed significantly compared with earlier stages of the war, with Russian forces struggling to achieve rapid operational gains despite continuing offensive operations.Oleh Apostol, commander of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces, made the assessment during a meeting with journalists, according to Ukrainian media.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Asked about Russia’s gradual seizure of Ukrainian territory, Apostol said the current situation should not be compared with previous periods of intense offensive activity.“It has slowed down very significantly,” he said, referring to the Russian offensive.Apostol attributed the slowdown partly to heavy Russian losses, which have weakened the ability of Russian units to sustain the intensity of their operations.He also cautioned against treating the capture of isolated positions as evidence of meaningful operational progress.“If they capture a single tree line in the span of a month, that hardly constitutes an operational success upon which further gains can be built,” Apostol said.At the same time, he acknowledged that Russian forces continue to rely on their manpower advantage to sustain offensive operations.NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Russia is losing more than 40,000 troops killed or seriously wounded every month in its war against Ukraine.Preliminary figures suggest the number exceeded 50,000 in October. He compared Russia’s monthly losses with the 56,000 US troops killed during the entire 14-year Vietnam War. Other Topics of Interest Russia and Ukraine have agreed in Abu Dhabi to a major prisoner exchange, brokered by the US. Rutte said Russian President Vladimir Putin was failing on the battlefield and trying to weaken Ukraine by targeting civilians and critical infrastructure ahead of winter.Ukraine’s General Staff reported a record 16,130 Russian personnel casualties between Nov. 1 and Nov. 7, averaging more than 2,300 killed or wounded daily. The figure followed a series of record-breaking daily losses, including 2,500 on Nov. 1.Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces reported 16,796 Russian casualties in October, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the figure at 54,400 killed or severely wounded.Separately, The Economist estimated that Russia had suffered between 1.4 million and 2.1 million total casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.