Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, between 70,000 and 80,000 Russian servicemen have been killed or wounded. This was announced to journalists by US Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Kohl on Monday, August 8, emphasizing that we are talking about approximate losses, both dead and wounded on the battlefield. “That number might be a little lower or a little higher, but I think it’s kind of true,” he said.

At the same time, a Pentagon spokesman noted that despite “impressive” losses, Russia has not achieved any of the goals declared by President Vladimir Putin during his invasion of Ukraine in late February. “His main objective was to take over the whole country, achieve a change of power in Kyiv and destroy Ukraine as an independent, sovereign and democratic nation. None of this happened,” Kol emphasized. He acknowledged that the Ukrainian side also suffered significant labor losses, but did not give figures.

Russia and Ukraine do not disclose losses

Moscow and Kyiv do not disclose the death toll in the war. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation last reported on them on March 25. It was then claimed that 1,351 people died and 3,825 were injured. Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the Duma Defense Committee, said in early June that Russia had virtually stopped losing troops, having changed its approach to conducting hostilities in Ukraine.

Kohl described the war unleashed by Russia as “the most intense conflict in Europe using conventional weapons since World War II”. Currently, he sees the advantage on the side of the Ukrainians. From his point of view, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are superior to the Russians in terms of morale and readiness to fight. For Ukrainians, “there is a lot at stake. They are fighting for the survival of their country,” said a Pentagon official.