The White House has estimated that over the past five months of fighting in Ukraine, Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, Sky News reports.

Detailing the latest estimates, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US believed about 20,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since December.

Half of them are part of Wagner’s private military group, Kirby said.

Kirby added that the Russian offensive on Bakhmut, in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, “has stalled” and “failed.”

In recent months, Moscow has focused its invasion on Donbas, in particular on the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk.

However, it is believed that Bakhmut was not completely captured by Russian troops – and the Ukrainian military launched a counteroffensive in the area.

Russia did not “completely” capture Bakhmutul / Ukrainian counterattacks

A Ukrainian military spokesman confirmed that Russian forces had been pushed back in some areas of Bakhmut – and that the city in the east of the country had not been “completely” overrun by invading troops.

“The situation is quite difficult,” Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces, said on Telegram on Monday.

“At the same time, in some parts of the city, the enemy was the object of counterattacks by our units and left some positions,” he added.

Sirsky made the remarks during a visit to frontline troops on Sunday, the military said.

Serhii Sherevaty, a spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the two sides were engaged in a “positional battle” after Ukrainian forces launched a series of counterattacks.

“I can definitely confirm the information that the enemy in Bakhmut has abandoned some positions after some of our counterattacks,” he told a national TV channel.

But he said the front line is constantly changing, continuing: “Sometimes the enemy has some success after a heavy artillery strike and destruction of infrastructure and can advance.

But we counterattack and often win back”

Moscow made this the main objective of its invasion, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.