Russian Casualties In Ukraine War Down 30% In April, Still Higher Than 2022 Average

Russia marks a lower death toll on the battlefield throughout April, Ukrainian government data showed.

An analysis by Kyiv Post of publicly released data by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense showed that Russian casualties in April have declined by nearly 30% compared to the previous month.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported 16,970 Russian casualties in April, while 24,100 Russian soldiers were killed in action last March.

The report linked last month's decrease in Russian casualties to changes in battlefield tactics implemented by Moscow as the Russian military digs into its current troop positions in preparation for the looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.

However, Russian casualties in April and the first three months of 2023 are still higher than for any month in 2022.

The report noted that the average monthly Russian casualties in 2022 was 9,274. This year, the average number of Russians killed on the battlefield monthly is 20,948, more than last year's average.

The current monthly average Russian losses are equivalent to losing more than four battalions or more than two divisions in military terms, the Kyiv Post explained.

On Monday, the White House said Russia's high death toll on the battlefield is due to the undertrained mercenary fighters.

The Biden administration's national security spokesperson John Kirby said members of the notorious Russian paramilitary Wagner group were "thrown into combat and without sufficient combat or combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control."

Kirby noted that half of the more than 20,000 Russian fighters killed since December were Wagner soldiers.

The White House official also compared the number of deaths incurred by Russian forces in the heavily contested Ukrainian town of Bakhmut to some of the fiercest battles during World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge and the Guadalcanal campaign.

Previous situation updates by the Ukrainian military also suggested that Russia is struggling to treat the growing number of wounded military personnel. The Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russia has converted civilian buildings in their temporarily-occupied regions into military hospitals to accommodate injured soldiers.

Last month, the Ukrainian military spotted a tent city for the wounded Russian fighters in the temporarily-occupied region of Crimea, where hundreds of soldiers were undergoing rehabilitation.

The Ukrainian military added that Russian medical facilities in the occupied territories had already reached their full capacity due to growing casualties on the battlefield.

The casualty report by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released Wednesday showed about 191,940 Russian troops were eliminated since the war broke out more than a year ago.