Russia continues to suffer large losses of troops and equipment, including artillery systems and armored personnel vehicles (APVs), according to Kyiv’s latest figures.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday that over the previous 24 hours Russian casualties totalled 1,124, the highest figure for six weeks. The last time it was higher was on March 16, when the figure was 1,160.
Russian forces also lost 38 artillery systems—the second highest figure for a week—taking the total losses of this equipment type to 11,905 since the start of the war.
Kyiv’s latest figures also showed that Russia had lost 14 APVs the previous day, taking the total for the full-scale invasion to 13,971.
ANATOLII STEPANOV/Getty Images
Ukraine has estimated that Russia has lost 465,054 troops during the war, with this figure including both dead and wounded. Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
An accurate number of casualties is difficult to ascertain with Ukraine’s estimate higher than figures given by Western countries.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in February that Russian losses had reached around 350,000. A tally conducted by independent Russian media outlet Mediazona and BBC Russian based on publicly available information, said that as of Saturday, at least 51,679 members of the Russian military had died.
The outlets’ say that their tallies offer “only a partial picture and do not encompass the full scope of the casualties.” Among the losses were 3,300 army and other security forces officers, 390 who had the rank of lieutenant colonel and above.
It comes as Ukraine awaits the delivery of weapons and ammunition following the passage by Congress of a $61 billion assistance package in the hope of stemming Russian advances in the Donetsk region, particularly north of Avdiivka.
Kyiv has warned that Vladimir Putin hopes to capture the nearby town of Chasiv Yar in time for Victory Day on May 9, when Russia marks the role Moscow played in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II.
Amid concerns that the aid package may not be enough for Kyiv to achieve all its war aims and regain all its territory, U.S. officials have reportedly resumed discussing “freezing the lines,” in the war, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The think tank said Friday that Ukrainian forces will first have to leverage Washington’s aid “to stabilize the front lines and stop ongoing Russian advances, particularly in the Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar directions.”
A Russian offensive is anticipated in summer but its scale “remains unclear,” the think tank said, adding that Moscow may be assessing its plans to take into account better-equipped Ukrainian forces.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.