47,550 Russian Military Personnel Have Died In Ukraine War; 450 Liquidated On Tuesday

More than 47,500 Russian soldiers are estimated to have died since the war in Ukraine began in February, according to Ukrainian officials.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) said in a report that Ukrainian forces have so far killed a total of 47,550 Russian military personnel. Among the total deaths, 450 soldiers were liquidated Tuesday. The Russian army suffered its biggest losses in the Donetsk and Kurakhiv directions.

Apart from the losses among the Russian ranks, the UAF General Staff also reported that the Russian army has lost a total of 1,954 tanks, 4,294 combat armored machines, 1,079 artillery systems and 3,217 vehicles and fuel tanks in the war.

The increasing number of deaths in the Russian army comes as Ukrainian forces are undertaking massive counteroffensive operations to retake Russian-occupied areas in the southern part of the country.

On Tuesday, Ukraine successfully broke through Russian defenses at multiple points at the frontlines in Kherson Oblast. The Ukrainian army also regained four villages in the region, namely Novodmytrivka, Arkhangelsk, Tomyna Balka and Pravdyne.

"The operation began at night with massive shelling of Russian positions and the rear," a Ukrainian military source told CNN. "We have now liberated four villages. Their first line of defense has been broken through in three places. Many of them were killed and captured, and a lot of [Russian] military vehicles [were destroyed]."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday issued a warning to Russian forces and urged them to "run away" and "go home" if they want to survive. He also vowed that Russian soldiers who are afraid to return home should surrender, adding that Ukraine will comply with the Geneva Conventions' laws about prisoners of war.

Oleksiy Arestovych, Zelensky's adviser, later cautioned that the counteroffensive will be a slow one and would "grind the enemy." He noted that counteroffensive operations will not end until Ukrainian flags are installed over all occupied settlements across the country.

Kherson was one of the first regions to fall to Russian control at the beginning of the war. The region is crucial to controlling areas along Ukraine's southern coast as well as access to the Black Sea.