According to American and other Western officials, the number of killed and wounded Russian soldiers in Ukraine is approaching 200,000.
This is reported by the New York Times.
Although officials cautioned that casualties are difficult to quantify, especially since Moscow routinely understates the number of dead and wounded, they say the carnage from fighting in and around the town of Bakhmut and in the town of Soledar has added to the already heavy toll.
As Moscow is desperate for victory on the battlefield and sees Bakhmut as the key to capturing all of Donbas, the Russian military has sent ill-trained recruits and ex-prisoners to the front line, just under fire from Ukrainian shells and machine guns. As a result, according to US officials, hundreds of soldiers are killed or injured every day.
American officials believe that Putin can withstand hundreds of thousands of casualties in Ukraine, although more casualties could erode his political support.
As noted, Ukraine's losses are also difficult to determine given Kyiv's reluctance to disclose its own losses during the war. But in Bakhmut, according to officials, hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen are injured and die every day.
The last time the Biden administration publicly assessed casualties was last November, when Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more than 100,000 troops on each side had been killed and wounded since the war began. At that time, officials said in private conversations that this figure was approaching 120,000.
On Norwegian television on January 22, General Eirik Kristoffersen, the head of the Norwegian Armed Forces, stated that, according to estimates, Russia lost 180 thousand killed and wounded, and Ukraine - 100 thousand killed and wounded during hostilities, as well as 30 thousand civilian casualties. people. Gen. Kristoffersen said in an email to The New York Times that there is "great uncertainty about these numbers because no one can give an accurate estimate at this time. They could be lower or higher."
This week, senior US officials said they believe the number of Russian casualties is approaching 200,000. These losses in just 11 months are eight times greater than American losses in the two decades of the war in Afghanistan.