Ukraine has suffered the “irretrievable losses” of 23,367 troops since Russia launched its military offensive in February, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow stated on Saturday.
The casualty figures were revealed by Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, who said that in the city of Mariupol alone Ukraine has lost more than 4,000 people, including “foreign mercenaries” and “Nazis” associated with the notorious Azov and Aidar regiments.
Konsahenkov said that Russia has obtained documents proving Ukraine’s losses, and would soon publish more detailed information from these files.
Ukraine claims to have lost between 2,500 and 3,000 soldiers across its entire territory. This was the figure Zelensky gave to CNN in an interview on Friday, while claiming that the Russian military had suffered as many as 20,000 casualties of its own. Moscow heavily disputes Zelensky’s claims. According to a casualty count published by the Russian government last month, Russia had lost just over 1,350 troops.