A NATO official said Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the invasion was launched in late February. That has been compared to the Battle of Iwo Jima, at which 6,852 U.S. troops were killed in five weeks in some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II. A Russian media outlet offered a similar number Tuesday when it said that almost 10,000 Russian troops had been killed, but it later pulled that report, saying that it had been hacked.
The same NATO official said that there have been up to 40,000 Russian casualties, which includes those who were wounded, taken prisoner, or killed. If true, that would constitute a fifth of the total troops deployed into Ukraine, which was around 190,000.
At least six Russian generals and dozens of military officers have been killed, Ukraine has said. These deaths are particularly disastrous for Russia, as there are in many cases simply no replacements who can step up to take on these specialized roles, leaving troops scattered and without qualified authority. Many of these deaths were among colonels, who play an outsized role in organizing on-the-ground action, with one foreign diplomat describing them as “the backbone of the Russian army.”
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