20,000 Russian Soldiers Have Died In Ukraine Since December; 80,000 Wounded: US Intel

The Biden administration estimates that more than 20,000 Russian fighters have been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine just since December last year, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

Kirby added that a further 80,000 Russian troops were wounded while fighting against Ukrainian forces during that period, putting Russia's casualties since December 2022 at 100,000, the Associated Press reported.

The new estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence, Kirby said.

He said nearly half of those killed since December were from the notorious paramilitary organization Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House official said Wagner fighters were "thrown into combat and without sufficient combat or combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control."

Kirby said Russia suffered the most casualties in the heavily contested Ukrainian town of Bakhmut during that period and compared the figure with those of some of the fiercest battles during World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge and the Guadalcanal campaign.

"It's three times the number of killed in action that the United States faced on the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II and that was over the course of five months," Kirby said.

Last month, Reuters reported, citing the U.S. intelligence documents leaked online, that Russia has suffered 189,500 to 223,000 casualties in total since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This includes 35,500 to 43,000 Russian troops killed in action and 154,000 to 180,000 wounded.

Meanwhile, data released by the Ukrainian Armed Forces Sunday stated that Russia has lost 190,510 military personnel in total in the war, including 17,150 eliminated by Ukrainian fighters last month.

Russia has also lost 3,699 tanks, 7,189 armored personnel vehicles (APVs), 2,914 artillery systems, and 2,475 operational-tactical level unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the conflict, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its casualty report.

Previous situation updates by the Ukrainian military revealed that Russia is struggling to treat its growing number of wounded military personnel. Russia resorted to converting civilian buildings in temporarily-occupied Ukrainian regions into military hospitals to accommodate injured soldiers.

Despite suffering heavy losses after launching its so-called "special military operation," Russia continues to carry out attacks against the besieged Ukraine.

In its latest situation update, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 19 missile strikes, 13 airstrikes and 13 rocket strikes against various Ukrainian settlements and troop positions.

The new round of Russian attacks reportedly killed and wounded civilians, including children. The attacks also destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructures, such as residential buildings, private houses, schools, hospitals and kindergartens.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russia is still focusing most of its offensive operations in the cities of Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiivka and Marinka.