More than 20,000 Russian troops have been killed in the war in Ukraine over the last month, according to figures released by Kyiv.
Although not verified, the figures could signify a trend of ever-increasing losses by Moscow’s forces.
In an update on Saturday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that over the previous 24 hours, 860 Russian troops had been “liquidated,” taking the total number of losses since the start of the invasion on February 24 to 188,160.
On December 21, Ukraine’s General Staff said that the Russian death toll had surpassed 188,000, and calculated that Moscow’s forces had lost an average of around 10,000 troops each month.
It follows figures Ukraine released on January 7 which pointed to a major spike in losses, with an estimated 10,000 Russian troops killed in the fortnight between December 21 and January 5.
Saturday’s update also said that Russia had lost a total of 5,140 tanks, 8,256 armored fighting vehicles and 3,135 artillery systems.
Russia does not often release figures, having only so far confirmed the deaths of 5,937 Russian troops.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has expressed concerns about high Ukrainian losses in the fierce battle for the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk oblast, according to the publication Der Speigel.
Although the BND said Russian losses were high, the Ukrainian army is currently losing “a three-digit” number of soldiers every day in the battles around the city, the publication reported, according to a translation.
On Friday, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told reporters at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany that “while the number of casualties of war are always suspect” the Russian toll was “significantly well over 100,000,” although he did not break this down into those who had been killed and injured.
He was speaking after Ukraine’s allies had discussed military aid to Kyiv in a meeting in which there was an impasse over providing German-made Leopard 2 tanks used by NATO members but which require permission from Berlin to send.
Used by NATO allies, countries such as Poland have said they want to send the advanced tanks, but their re-export requires permission from Berlin.
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