Britain claims 220,000 Russian casualties during war as Ukraine prepares counter-offensive

A senior UK defense ministry official said on Wednesday that Russia had seen some of them 220,000 dead and wounded since the start of the war in an estimate that more than doubled the figures released less than six months earlier.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace made the announcement while speaking with his Swedish counterpart at a press event in London, referring to the figures provided by the US assessment.

While the Pentagon has not released such a high casualty estimate, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday that the U.S. estimates that “the Russian losses are far in excess 200,000 people.”

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“Their offensive aspirations essentially stopped. Their capabilities, their land forces are absolutely planted on this, so to speak, Ukrainian bayonet,” he continued. “And that’s largely because of the resources that the U.S. and other countries have provided.”

There were reports of this last month Russian losses were calculated will approach 200,000, and the number of killed and wounded hovers around 180,000.

Milli last published US estimates of Russian casualties in November, when the US believed that roughly 100,000 had been killed or wounded on both sides of the hostilities.

Ukrainian soldiers take cover in a trench during Russian shelling on the front line near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Libkos, file)

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This means that, according to US estimates, Russia has lost approximately 100,000 troops in less than six months, with up to 40,000 of them either killed or wounded since early February.

Ukraine has repeatedly claimed that Moscow is suffering heavy losses on the battlefield, and Western defense officials have said that Russia’s military efforts, particularly in bitter disputes like Bakhmut, have slowed in recent days.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense also estimated on Wednesday that Moscow was likely to see a “manpower shortage” as at least 5,000 Wagner PMC recruits were pardoned after six months of war service.

Ukrainian soldiers on BMP infantry fighting vehicles head towards Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine on March 22, 2023. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)

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Ukraine is preparing for another counteroffensive as aid from the West continues to pour in and concerns over Russia’s stalled winter offensive ease.

It is reported that Ukraine was able to deliver a deeper blow to the territory controlled by Russia in the south, and Kiev troops in Donetsk are allegedly starting to “stabilize” the situation around Bakhmut.