Ukraine’s published estimates put the number of Russian dead and wounded in the past week at more than half a million, prompting celebrations in Kiev’s state media.
Ukrinform, the information service managed by the Ukrainian government Reports The Russians estimate that the war has now “reached a critical psychological turning point” with more than 500,000 Russians killed or seriously injured.
The toll of these casualties in Russia is equivalent to the population of several small countries and several Russian cities, state news outlets reported. “So if you imagine that these 500,000 dead Russian soldiers lived in one of those cities, it can be said that this city no longer exists. Imagine the entire city having disappeared,” the report said.
Russia likely lost 3,000 tanks in Ukraine, and such losses could continue for years to come, IISS said.https://t.co/clfiOKIwTy
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 14, 2024
Ukraine said killing or wounding 500,000 invaders was a “truly great achievement by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Secrecy is the norm in wartime, and the invasion of Ukraine was no exception, making it difficult to get a realistic assessment of losses for either side. As previously reported, the number of Russian military deaths claimed by Ukraine is significantly higher than the figures sometimes released by, for example, the British Ministry of Defence. In March of this year, Ukraine claimed Russian casualties at 416,000, while the UK officially stated the figure at 315,000.
Casualty estimates for Ukraine are hard to come by. Kiev does not typically release figures for its dead and wounded, but President Zelenskiy spoke out on the matter on the second anniversary of the start of the conflict. He called the Kremlin’s figure of 300,000 a “deceptive” lie, and in February insisted the real death toll was 31,000.
In April, a journalism project compiling data from burials in Russian cemeteries, memorials on social media and newspaper obituaries reported that it could “confirm” the number of Russian deaths at 50,000.
