Russian death toll in Ukraine war could be as high as 60,000 troops, UK says

The Russian death toll from its war in Ukraine could be as high as 60,000, the U.K. said, with U.S. officials saying that at least 15 percent of Moscow’s killed forces were part of a private mercenary group primarily made up of convicts.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an intelligence briefing that Russian armed forces, including contracted fighters, had lost between 40,000 and 60,000 troops and have suffered up to 200,000 casualties, which includes those wounded in action.

The heavy casualties reflect a strategy of sending poorly prepared soldiers on near “suicide missions,” the ministry said.

One result is that it’s becoming harder for the Kremlin to keep the war at a distance from the Russian people.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to insulate the population from the war in Ukraine,” the UK Defense Ministry said Saturday. “A December 2022 Russian poll reported that 52% had either a friend or relative who had served in the so-called Special Military Operation.”

The figures came as Russia continued to hammer Ukraine with missiles while pushing forward along the eastern region of the country.

Meanwhile, the U.S. estimated that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, made up largely of conscripted former prisoners, has alone suffered over 30,000 casualties, including 9,000 fighters killed in action.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a briefing that half of the Wagner group’s casualties have come since mid-December and 90 percent of those forces were convicts.

The Wagner group recruited tens of thousands of jailed Russians in return for amnesty after six months of military service in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Kirby said that the private paramilitary group made small advancements over the past few days near the besieged city of Bakhmut, but those incremental gains took months and came at a “devastating cost that is not sustainable.”

“It is possible that they may end up being successful in Bakhmut but it will prove of no real worth to them because it is of no real strategic value,” he said.

Both U.K. and U.S. officials suggested that Russia’s high death toll is due in part by Moscow’s mass use of poorly equipped and trained troops sent to the front to try to break enemy lines.

“By modern standards, these figures represent a high ratio of personnel killed compared to those wounded,” the U.K. said. “This is almost certainly due to extremely rudimentary medical provision across much of the force.”

Ukraine has not given regular updates on how many casualties its military has suffered although the European Union head Ursula von der Leyen said that 100,000 soldiers and over 20,000 civilians died during an address on Nov. 30.

However, Ukraine rebuked the estimate and the EU removed the reference from the official text of von der Leyen’s statement.

The official Twitter account for the EU head also removed the video where von der Leyen made the statement and published a new one without mention of the losses, Yahoo reported.

Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said in August that Ukraine had lost nearly 9,000 soldiers in the war, The Wall Street Journal reported.