Russia Has Lost More Than 11,000 Troops Since Start Of Invasion, Ukraine Claims

The number of Russian soldiers killed since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine has passed 11,000, according to Ukrainian officials.

In an update of losses suffered by the Russian army over the past 11 days Ukraine's military command also claimed that 2,000 units of weapons and equipment had been either seized, destroyed or abandoned, including hundreds of tanks and other armoured vehicles, and dozens of aircraft.

Destroyed military vehicle in Kharkiv (Alamy)

The new estimate comes a day after Ukraine's military officials said that the number of Russian soldiers killed had reached the 10,000 mark, saying in a statement: 'Russia has not suffered so many casualties during the fighting in any of its armed conflicts since its inception,' per The Independent.

The figures provided by Ukraine have not been independently confirmed, and there has been some skepticism as to whether the numbers may be inflated, however earlier this week at least two western military officials said they believed Ukraine's estimates of Russian casualties to be largely accurate.

On Thursday, the Russian government acknowledged for the first time that its troops had suffered casualties, claiming 498 had been killed over the past week and more than 1,500 injured - a number experts cautioned is likely to be several magnitudes lower than the true figure.

By way of comparison, the number of Russian soldiers killed in the Soviet-Afghan war, which lasted for ten years, was 15,000.

The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle is currently unknown, however in an update provided last week, the United Nations warned that hundreds of civilians had died during the first week of the invasion as Russia ramped up its attacks on cities.

Residential neighbourhoods in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Chernihiv, Sumy and elsewhere have come under sustained shelling and missile attacks as Russia's bombardment escalates, leaving civilians to hide in underground bomb shelters for days.

Military vehicle destroyed by anti-tank weapons (Alamy)

As well as suffering seemingly unprecedented human loss, Russia has reportedly also lost significant amounts of equipment. As of 12 hours ago, independently confirmed losses of military vehicles stood at 725, including 107 tanks, with 10 airplanes and 10 helicopters confirmed to have been downed. Ukraine claims it has destroyed more than 80 Russian planes and helicopters.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, Russian efforts to quickly encircle and capture key cities has been hampered by a combination of significant logistical issues and a stronger than expected resistance from Ukraine, which announced on Friday that it planned to launch counter-offensives to push back Russian advances.

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