Heavy casualties for Russia - Around 1000 Wagner mercenaries killed in the fighting

Created: 2022-12-23 05:01

By: Caspar Felix Hoffmann, Sebastian Richter, Christian Stör

Russia has to accept increasing losses in the Ukraine war.

100,000 soldiers are said to have already fallen.

The news ticker.

• Heavy casualties:

  Russian forces suffer in 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.

+++ 10:05 p.m .:

According to the US government, around 1,000 Wagner mercenaries have been killed in battles in Ukraine in the past few weeks alone.

About 90 percent of them were convicts, White House communications director John Kirby said in Washington.

The prisoners came from Russian prisons.

"It seems like Mr. Prigozhin is ready to just grind Russian corpses in Bakhmut," Kirby said.

The Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, known for his close ties to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, publicly admitted for the first time in September that he had founded the notorious mercenary group.

A mercenary from the Wagner group carries an artillery shell.

© Viktor Antonyuk/Imago

Heavy losses for Russia: Moscow loses 200 more soldiers in Kherson

+++ 8:20 p.m .:

Up to 150 Russian soldiers were killed and around 50 wounded in an attack by Ukrainian forces on a Russian airfield near the city of Kakhovka in the Kherson region on Tuesday (December 20).

This was announced by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the evening (December 22) on Facebook.

The General Staff also said that up to 20 pieces of Russian military equipment of various types were destroyed in this attack.

This information is not independently verifiable.

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Heavy casualties for Russia: Officials loyal to Moscow killed in Kherson region

+++ 18:05:

An official deployed by Russia in a part of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine controlled by the Russian armed forces was killed in a car bomb attack today, according to the local government, which is loyal to Moscow, the

said.

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Andrei Shtepa, the pro-Russian head of the village of Lyubimovka in the Kherson region, died after a car was blown up.

The Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on the incident.

This information is not independently verifiable.

Heavy losses for Russia: Ukraine shoots down high-tech drone

+++ 2.15 p.m .:

The Ukrainian armed forces apparently managed to inflict a serious loss on the Russian Air Force.

According to the Defense Ministry, a high-tech Russian drone was destroyed in Moscow's latest mass attack on Ukraine.

The aircraft is said to be a $6 million reconnaissance drone.

In the Ukraine war, Russia converted many of these drones so that they can also fly attacks.

The information is not independently verifiable.

+++ 12.45 p.m .:

A fire broke out on the flagship “Admiral Kuznetsov” of the Russian Navy.

20 people had to be evacuated from Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Russian news agency

reports.

The ship was anchored in the port city of Murmansk in the far north-west of Russia.

Nobody was injured by the fire.

The fire is said to have started during repair work, according to Alexei Rachmanov, head of the largest shipbuilding company United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

Heavy casualties: Ex-government vice-minister of Russia injured in Ukrainian shelling

+++ 11.45 a.m .:

The former Vice Prime Minister of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, was injured in Donetsk.

The politician wrote on Telegram that he was surprised by Ukrainian fire at a “work meeting” in the Russian-occupied territory.

"I have a wound, a 3x4 mm metal splinter that penetrated above my right shoulder blade." He probably needs an operation, Rogozin continued.

According to media reports, the "work meeting" was the birthday celebration of the well-known right-wing extremist nationalist.

Rogozin began his career in the Rodina (Homeland) party.

At the nationalist "Russian March" he was photographed showing the Hilter salute.

Under Putin, he served as ambassador to NATO, temporarily as government deputy and later as head of the space agency.

According to speculation, Putin wants to make him governor general of the annexed Ukrainian territories.

So far this post does not exist.

Heavy losses in the Ukraine war: 100,000 Russian soldiers dead?

+++ 11:00 a.m .:

The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces announced on Facebook that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have now been eliminated.

660 soldiers were killed within a day.

The information cannot be independently verified.

• Soldiers:

  100,400 (+660)

• Aircraft:

  283 (+1)

• Helicopters:

  267 (+0)

• Tanks:

  3003 (+1)

• Armored fighting vehicles: 

  5981 (+2)

• Artillery Systems:

  1978 (+6)

• Air defense systems:

   212 (+0)

• Multiple Rocket Launchers:

   413 (+1)

• Cars and other vehicles:

   4615 (+7)

• Ships:

   16 (+0)

• Unmanned Combat Drones:

   1693 (+5)

Heavy losses in the Ukraine war: 10,000 Russian soldiers every month

Moscow/Kyiv – The Russian invaders have been deployed in Ukraine for more than 300 days.

President Vladimir Putin had originally assumed that the "military special operation" would be over quickly.

But that has long since been out of the question.

On the contrary: the Ukraine war is going downright devastating for the Russian armed forces, their losses are exorbitantly high.

A look at the statistics shows how problematic the situation has become for Russia.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the number of Russian soldiers killed since the invasion began on February 24 has now passed the 100,000 mark.

This means that the Russian armed forces are suffering an average of about 10,000 soldiers killed each month - an unimaginable amount.

Russia admits few casualties in the Ukraine war

In fact, the Ukraine conflict would be by far Russia's most costly war since World War II.

For comparison: According to official figures, 14,453 Soviet soldiers lost their lives in the ten-year war in Afghanistan.

It is not possible to independently verify whether the figures from the Ukraine war are correct.

Russia itself hardly ever releases data on casualties.

The last official figure is from September 21, when Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu put the losses in his own army at just under 6,000 military personnel.

"Russia's losses amount to 5937," Shoigu said on Russian television at the time.

How high are the Russian losses in the Ukraine war?

However, most experts assume that Russia will suffer significantly higher losses.

US General Mark Milley, for example, declared in November that far more than 100,000 soldiers had been killed or injured on the Russian side.

Since there are usually three to four wounded for every soldier killed, Russia may have lost around 20,000 to 25,000 soldiers so far.

Although winter has almost brought fighting to a standstill on the southern and eastern fronts, Russian casualties are still very high.

The reason is the battle for Bakhmut, where Moscow is obviously determined to achieve a largely symbolic victory despite significant losses.

(cs/spr with dpa/AFP)