1,402 High-Ranking Russian Army Officials Have Died In Ukraine War; 2 Generals Imprisoned

At least 1,402 high-ranking Russian army officials have been killed in the war in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian army.

Among the dead are two lieutenant generals, eight major generals, 44 colonels, 98 lieutenant colonels, 193 majors, 279 captains, 471 senior lieutenants, 235 lieutenants and 72 soldiers of other ranks, a Telegram post from the StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated, citing open source intelligence researchers. The report did not identify the names of the high-ranking officials who died in the war.

The StratCom also noted that the Ukrainian army successfully imprisoned two generals, including FSB Col. Gen. Sergey Beseda and Maj. Gen. Yuri Sulin.

The report comes as the war is expected to drag into 2023, with Russian President Vladimir Putin likely ordering Russia's army to go on the offensive again in the spring, according to a Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment report published by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Oct. 30.

In addition, ISW experts noted that Putin will likely continue deploying untrained soldiers to the frontline "for the foreseeable future" and added that Russia is unlikely to escalate the war using nuclear weapons.

Russia on Wednesday echoed the sentiment, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the country's military doctrine only allows the use of nuclear weapons for defense and does not allow room for "expansive interpretation."

"These approaches allow for Russia to hypothetically resort to nuclear weapons exclusively in response to an aggression involving the use of weapons of mass destruction or an aggression with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy," the Russian ministry said in a statement, as translated by CNN.

The ministry added that its first priority is the prevention of any military conflict involving nuclear powers and called on other countries that possess nuclear weapons to "demonstrate in practice their willingness to resolve this priority problem," as per Meduza.

Russia continues to face mounting losses amid Ukraine's counteroffensive operation. As of Wednesday, it lost a total of 73,270 military personnel, including 800 in the previous day, as per estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Apart from military losses, the Russian army has also lost a total of 5,525 combat armored vehicles, 1,733 artillery systems, 1,438 UAVs and 4,153 fuel tanks in the war. The Russians suffered their biggest losses in the Avdiivka and Lyman directions.