A Ukrainian soldier fires artillery towards Russian positions outside Bakhmut on November 8, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Russia sustained 870 combat losses in Ukraine between Sunday and Monday
  • A total of 132,160 Russian military casualties have been recorded since the war began
  • Russan losses also included thousands of pieces of military equipment like tanks

Russia suffered 870 military casualties in Ukraine between Sunday and Monday, data provided by the Ukrainian military showed.

A total of 132,160 Russian combat losses have been recorded since the invasion of Ukraine began nearly a year ago, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its most recent casualty report, released Monday.

Russian losses numbered 131,290 as of Sunday, according to another report released by the Ukrainian military that day.

In addition to military personnel, Russia has also lost 3,231 tanks, 6,415 armored fighting vehicles and 2,231 artillery systems, among other pieces of military equipment, the new report from the Ukrainian military staff showed.

The Russian government last provided an official death toll from the war in September last year, when it claimed that 5,937 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine up to that point.

Independent Russian news site Mediazona, with the help of the BBC's Russian service and volunteers, reported it has been able to confirm, using publicly available data, 12,538 Russian military deaths in the conflict as of Jan. 27.

American and Western officials believe the number of Russian dead and wounded is approaching 200,000, The New York Times reported.

Russia has been sending poorly trained recruits to the front lines, and U.S. officials claimed this has resulted in hundreds of troops being killed or injured per day.

The Wagner Group, a paramilitary company founded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin that deployed up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine at one point, also sustained heavy losses in the war.

Fighters from the outfit do not employ military tactics and the organization's commanders use their men as cannon fodder, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, said.

The loss of life in Ukraine is unlikely to be a deterrent to the war goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian analysts.

Russia could launch an offensive in Ukraine's partially occupied Luhansk province in the coming months, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, said.

However, Russia's forces may face difficulties in regaining the initiative in the war even if they were bolstered by mobilized personnel, analysts believe.

A view shows a destroyed tank alongside the road during Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the city of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk Region, Ukraine July 1, 2022.
A view shows a destroyed tank alongside the road during Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the city of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk Region, Ukraine July 1, 2022. Reuters / ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO