Russian casualties reportedly drop to “record low” – Defense Minister gives details
Created: 12/21/2022, 5:58 p.m
By: Helena Gries, Sandra Kathe, Moritz Serif, Nadja Austel, Stefan Krieger, Andreas Apetz
Russia suffers heavy losses in the Ukraine war.
Almost 100,000 soldiers have now apparently died in combat.
the ticker
Further setbacks:
Russia with further losses in the Ukraine conflict
Editor's note:
Some of the information on the Ukraine war processed here comes from the warring parties in Russia and Ukraine.
They can therefore not be independently checked in part.
+++ 5.30 p.m .:
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu praised the sanitation on the Russian front line before President Vladimir Putin’s military committee on Wednesday (December 21).
This was reported by the state-controlled news
agency RIA Novosti
from Russia.
“First aid is provided within 10 minutes.
The wounded are taken to medical units within an hour and to military hospitals within the first day,” the minister describes the situation.
The mortality rate for war wounded in hospitals is currently less than half a percent.
According to Schoigu, this is a “record low”.
Russian soldiers take part in a military exercise in Belarus.
(Archive photo) © Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/dpa
In view of previous war reporting, the statements made by the Russian defense minister are highly questionable.
Again and again there was talk from the ranks of the Russian military of catastrophic conditions in the area of health care.
The Russian foreign minister himself admitted in November that there were "not enough doctors" at the front.
The Ukrainian news portal
Pravda
called Defense Minister Shoigu a "liar" after his speech to the military committee.
Losses to Russia in the Ukraine War: Where Ukraine Repels Russian Attacks
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
As the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces announced in its situation report on December 21 on Facebook, the Ukrainian units repulsed enemy attacks on 25 towns in eastern Ukraine within 24 hours.
The attacks were repelled in the Kharkov region, Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast, among others, it said.
The rocket and artillery units of the Ukrainian army hit an ammunition dump, three command posts and three areas with enemy personnel and weapons, according to the General Staff.
The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope
View photo gallery
Losses for Russia in the Ukraine War: Almost 100,000 Russian soldiers died in the war
+++ 9.30 a.m .:
Russia has lost more than 99,700 soldiers since the beginning of the Ukraine war on February 24th.
As early as tomorrow, the number of occupiers killed could increase to 100,000.
This is evident from figures released by the Ukrainian General Staff in the morning.
According to this, 510 soldiers died within one day alone.
The military also reported that Russia had lost 3,002 tanks and 412 multiple rockets, among other things.
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The Russian side does not provide any information on its own losses.
However, Western military officials recently estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded at well over 100,000.
The numbers of the Ukrainian general staff at a glance:
Soldiers:
99,740 (+510 on the previous day)
Aircraft:
282 (+1)
Helicopters:
267 (+1)
Tanks:
3,002 (+7)
Armored Combat Vehicles:
5,979 (+5)
Artillery systems:
1,972 (+12)
Air defense systems:
212 (+0)
Multiple Rocket Launchers:
412 (+2)
Cars and other vehicles:
4,608 (+9)
Ships:
16 (+0)
Unmanned Combat Drones:
1,688 (+8)
Source: data from the Ukrainian General Staff on Facebook
Update from Wednesday 21 December 7.10 am:
Russian oil shipments by sea have plummeted in the first week after G7 and EU sanctions on Russian oil came into effect on December 5, Bloomberg reported on December 20.
Losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Drones show Russian soldiers the way from the battlefield
+++ 19.15:
With specially deployed drones, the Ukrainian army wants to make it easier for Russian soldiers who are ready to flee to overrun.
This is reported by the
New York Times
, for example .
The high-tech devices have been in use since the end of November, and the Ukrainian army is now also using a Russian-language video on the YouTube channel of the "I want to live" program to draw attention to the possibility of being brought to "safety" by a drone.
Accordingly, Russian soldiers who want to flee from the front must first contact the Ukrainian forces' hotlines, where they will receive further instructions on a meeting point.
From there they would then be “picked up” by a drone and escorted to the nearest Ukrainian unit.
Ukraine advertises on its website that the defectors are not identified as such to Russia and are officially listed as prisoners of war, so that they are not in danger of deserting.
In addition, the army promises to treat the prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and, if possible, to exchange them for Ukrainian prisoners.
Heavy losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Putin wants to hand over responsibility
+++ 1:25 p.m .:
According to the authorities, around 100,000 Russian IT specialists left their homeland after the start of the Ukraine war.
"In fact, if we look at both waves of departures, up to ten percent of the employees of IT companies left the country and did not come back," said Digitization Minister Maxut Schadajew on Tuesday in Moscow at a hearing in front of the parliament.
However, 80 percent of them are still employed by Russian companies.
Shadayev therefore spoke out against banning these Russians from working from home.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians have now left their homeland.
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
According to British intelligence experts, Kremlin boss Putin is trying to shift responsibility for the costly and sometimes unsuccessful invasion of Ukraine and the growing dissatisfaction with the war from himself.
A visit to the headquarters of the so-called military special operations last week served to do this, according to the daily intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defense on Twitter on Tuesday.
According to the British, during the visit, which was accompanied by cameras and also included Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov, the Kremlin chief was also concerned with countering rumors of his dismissal.
Heavy losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Putin sees the situation as "extremely difficult"
+++ 10.30 a.m .:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged major problems in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed.
"The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions is extremely difficult," Putin said in a video addressed to employees of Russian intelligence and security services on Tuesday.
Putin praised the work of the Russian security forces deployed in the "new regions of Russia".
"The people who live there, the citizens of Russia, rely on you, on your protection," said the Russian president.
He also called for "maximum concentration" on Russia's counterintelligence.
It is necessary to "strictly suppress the activities of foreign intelligence services and quickly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs".
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reports Russian losses in the Ukraine war
+++ 10.05 a.m .:
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has published the current figures.
Accordingly, compared to the previous day, more Russian soldiers fell.
In total there were 430 dead.
Heavy losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: hospitals overflowing with soldiers
+++ 9.00 a.m .:
The hospitals in the Ukrainian city of Lugansk are apparently overcrowded with Russian soldiers.
That comes from one
Report of the news portal
Ukrainska Pravda
.
Three hospitals were made available to care for wounded Russian soldiers, but there were not enough medical staff and medicines for the large number of people.
More than 1,000 wounded Russian soldiers are said to have been accommodated in a hospital.
Update from Tuesday, December 20, 7:30
a.m.: According to estimates by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has already lost 99,000 soldiers in 300 days since the war began in Ukraine.
In just a few days, the number of occupiers killed could increase to 100,000.
"And for what?
No one in Moscow has an answer to that and will not (in the future) have one," Zelenskyy said in his video address on Monday evening.
For security reasons, both sides are not providing precise information on the losses of the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.
However, Western military officials recently put the number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded at well over 100,000.
Zelenskyy's adviser Mykhailo Podoliak recently put the number of Ukrainian casualties at 13,000.
Heavy losses for Russia in the Ukraine war: Ukrainian general staff records successes
+++ 9:55 p.m .:
The Ukrainian air defense forces shot down two Russian helicopters this Monday, as the General Staff of the Armed Forces announced in its evening report.
Details about the exact model of the aircraft are not yet known.
The Ukrainian military also hit a Russian ammunition depot, two checkpoints and two Russian troop positions, the report said.
Losses to Russia: tanks and combat vehicles destroyed
+++ 12.45 p.m .:
Russia loses a tank and six armored fighting vehicles in the Ukraine war.
This was announced by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Update from Monday, December 19, 12:11 p.m .:
Russia had to accept the loss of six armored combat vehicles in the Ukraine war.
In addition, Ukraine was able to destroy an air defense system.
Russia with heavy losses in the Ukraine war
First report from Monday, December 19:
Kiev/Moscow – The Ukraine war is still raging.
After the invasion of the neighboring country, Russia has to accept increasing losses.
Almost 100,000 soldiers are said to have fallen.
That's what the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims.
Other sources speak of up to 400,000 soldiers and military personnel killed, wounded or captured in the fighting.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has now published the latest figures.
Accordingly, compared to the previous day, more Russian soldiers fell.
In total there were 520 dead.
Russia itself does not publish figures on fallen soldiers or casualties in the Ukraine war.
Independent sources have
already confirmed at least 10,000 Russian deaths in Ukraine , according to the
New York Times .
(red with dpa/AFP)
