US intelligence services estimate that
20,000 Russian fighters have been killed
in Ukraine since December and another 80,000 have been wounded in combat, a White House spokesman said Monday.
"Since December, we estimate that Russia has had
more than 100,000 combatants
killed or wounded, including 20,000 combat deaths," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a news conference.
He noted that half of the dead
belonged to the Russian private military group Wagner
, and the majority were former prisoners "thrown into the fighting in Bakhmut (eastern Ukraine) without sufficient military training or command."
"The bottom line is that Russia's offensive attempt failed after months of fighting and
extraordinary losses,"
Kirby said.
A Ukrainian tank advances in the Kharkiv region.
AFP photo
Donbas
Separately, the spokesman declined to comment on the losses suffered by Ukraine, which is backed by a US-led coalition of Western countries.
"It is up to them to talk about it or not. I will never make public anything that makes it difficult for them.
They are the victims, Russia is the aggressor
," he said.
Most of the fighting in Ukraine in recent weeks has focused
on the eastern Donbas region
, particularly the city of Bakhmut.
A funeral in the kyiv cemetery of a Ukrainian soldier.
Photo EFE
The Russians have very gradually advanced into this largely destroyed industrial city, which they claim to control up to 80% of.
In November, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported that 100,000 combatants on each side had been killed or wounded since the war began in February 2022.
But US officials believe the losses have mounted for Russia as it has sent waves of poorly trained recruits and convicts to the front lines.
The numbers
Estimating casualties is notoriously difficult.
Moscow is not believed to count those killed or wounded on the battlefield, and Kirby did not provide specific details about how the US calculated Russia's losses, except to say it was corroborated intelligence.
A trove of leaked Pentagon documents released in April included a US estimate that, as of February, Russia
had suffered between 189,500 and 223,000 casualties
, including as many as 43,000 killed in action.
The document also estimated that Ukraine had suffered between 124,500 and 131,000 casualties, with up to 17,500 killed in action.
kyiv has also been reluctant to disclose wartime losses and Kirby did not provide any update on Ukrainian casualties on Monday.
Source: EFE and The New York Times
PB
look too
War in Ukraine: An explosion derails a train in Russia near the border
War in Ukraine: Russia bombs in the middle of the night and leaves a trail of wounded, one dead and infrastructure damage
