More than 16,000 Russian soldiers have reportedly lost their lives during Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, including some of the Kremlin’s top commanders.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Russia has suffered crippling losses since the invasion began on February 24 in an address on social media.
‘The number of the Russian losses has exceeded 16,000 casualties,’ he said.
‘Among them are the high-ranking commanders. So far no reports of killed Russian general colonels or admirals.
‘However, in that number we have a commander of one of the occupiers’ armies and a second in command of the Black Sea Navy.’
The president’s comments come after Russian Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, who told soldiers victory would be achieved in a few days, was killed in an airstrike.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, as of today, Russia has lost some 16,600 troops, 121 planes, 127 helicopters, 582 tanks, 1,664 armoured personnel carriers and seven boats, among other military equipment.
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Metro.co.uk is unable to independently verify Ukraine’s claims.
Previous figures from Putin stated that only 1,351 personnel had been killed during the war, with 3,825 wounded.
He has also only referred to the death of one general, though to be Maj Gen Andrey Sukhovetsky.
Christo Grozev, an expert on Russia and an investigator with Bellingcat, argues it is ‘ironic’ the Kremlin says it has ‘successfully demilitarised’ Ukraine.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘So far, [Russia] lost 10% of its military aircraft, much of its precision missile stock, and six or more Generals, while Ukraine has gained an unlimited future stream or nearly every kind of weaponry.’
In a separate post, Mr Grozev added the numbers shared by Putin are ‘almost certainly underestimated by a factor of several times’ and the real figures are still ‘substantially higher than Russians were led to expect’.
While the army is fighting off Russia’s advances in several cities like Kherson, the situation in besieged Mariupol is still dire.
Earlier this week, the number of people killed in a Russian airstrike on a theatre being used as a bomb shelter rose to 300.
Zelensky warned devastation of the port city was getting worse, with tens of thousands trapped without water, food or heating.
He said: ‘The situation in the city remains absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city.
‘They only use Mariupol residents in fakes for propagandists. Pretending to start giving something to people.’
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