The number of Russian troops killed three weeks into Moscow’s war on Ukraine has reached 14,000, according to the Ukrainian military.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the estimated death toll Thursday morning and added that the invading forces have lost nearly 450 tanks, more than 1,400 armored fighting vehicles, roughly 200 artillery systems, dozens of salvo fire systems, anti-aircraft systems, military aircraft, and helicopters, and fewer than a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles.
Lithuanian National Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas also shared those statistics on Thursday morning, though the Pentagon could not confirm them.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that there have been 726 civilians killed and 1,174 wounded. An estimated 50 children were among the dead. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said the number of refugees eclipsed the 3 million mark on Tuesday.
US HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF ACTIVITIES AT UKRAINIAN BIOLABS ONCE SEIZED BY RUSSIA: OFFICIALS
The United States estimates that more than 7,000 Russian troops have been killed, according to the New York Times. Additionally, Ukrainian officials have said that at least four Russian generals have been killed by Ukraine’s military.
Over the course of the Russian military’s three-week invasion of Ukraine, it has failed to conquer any major city. The Pentagon has said Russia underestimated Ukraine’s ability and commitment to resistance, a mistake Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the U.S. made as well during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week.
He also said during the hearing that intelligence his agency has seen indicates that between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian troops have died, though the DIA has “low confidence” in the assessment.
A top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Viktor Zolotov, chief of Russia’s National Guard and a member of Putin’s Security Council, acknowledged days ago that “not everything is going as fast as we would like.”
Russian forces have faced fuel and food shortages among troops, many of whom are conscripts who were thrown into the war. There have been reports from the Pentagon that some Russian troops willingly surrendered, while some others have sabotaged their own vehicles.
Russian troops have repeatedly launched missile strikes with an apparent disregard for civilian casualties. A group of experts testified in front of Congress on Wednesday to discuss the most egregious of these incidents — the immortalized image of a bombed-out maternity hospital in Mariupol that left at multiple people dead, including a pregnant mother and her unborn child.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Christo Grozev, an investigator with Bellingcat, a global investigatory platform, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that Russia is responsible for “more than 350 incidents that have caused harm to civilians.”
A theater in Mariupol serving as a shelter for civilians was “purposefully and cynically” struck by a Russian bomb Wednesday, according to its City Council. The council described the attack as “genocide of the Ukrainian people.”
