At least 7,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, CNN reported, quoting US and NATO officials.
According to the report, Russia is struggling to replenish those soldiers due to high losses, as well as sinking army morale and intense Ukrainian opposition.
According to NATO officials, Russia’s effort to take Kyiv has largely halted, and Ukraine said on Thursday that it has begun a counteroffensive aimed at taking conclusive control of the city’s outskirts.
According to people familiar with the intelligence, estimates of how many Russian soldiers have been killed so far vary substantially among US and partner intelligence agencies.
But even the lowest estimates are in the thousands.
One such assessment found that approximately 7,000 Russian troops have been killed so far, said one of the sources.
But that figure, first reported by The New York Times, is on the higher end of US estimates, which vary because the US and its allies have no precise way of counting casualties.
Some estimates place the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine at about 3,000, whereas others suggest more than 10,000 have been killed.
So far, the number has been calculated largely via open source reporting from non-governmental organizations, the Ukrainian government, commercial satellite imagery, and intercepted Russian communications.
US officials have also extrapolated numbers of dead based on the number of Russian tanks that have been destroyed, the sources said.
As the Russian advance on Kyiv stalled, Reuters reported that the war has settled into a grinding pattern of sieges of cities.
Ukrainian officials are reporting Russian attacks on schools, hospitals and cultural facilities.
The United Nations human rights office in Geneva said it had recorded 2,032 civilian casualties so far in Ukraine – 780 killed and 1,252 injured.
Some 3.2 million civilians, mostly women and children, have now fled to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.
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