Russian Military Death Toll Hits 171,700 As 570 More Soldiers Die On Tuesday

Russia has lost more than 171,700 military personnel in the invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said, as it announced 570 new Russian casualties this week.

A total of 171,730 Russian combat losses have been recorded since the war began in late February last year, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated in its most recent casualty report released Tuesday.

In a report from the previous day, the Ukrainian military claimed that Russian losses at the time numbered 171,160.

Russia has also lost 3,602 tanks, 6,966 armored fighting vehicles and 2,653 artillery systems in the war, among other pieces of military equipment, the latest data provided by the Ukrainian military showed.

Amid reports of Russian losses, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) claimed that fighters from the Wagner Group paramilitary organization currently taking part in the invasion of Ukraine have made gains in the besieged city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province.

"ISW assesses that Russian forces have advanced into an additional 5% of Bakhmut in the last seven days and that they currently occupy roughly 65% of the city," the United States-based think tank said in an assessment published Tuesday.

Russia has been focused on Bakhmut since the summer of 2022, but it has failed to completely seize the settlement.

Up to 30,000 Russian servicemen have already been killed or wounded in the fight for the city, Ian Stubbs, a senior military adviser part of the United Kingdom's delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said.

These reportedly included both soldiers from Russia's regular army and fighters from the Wagner Group, which is run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch known to be an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has also been trying to encircle nearby Avdiivka, but its forces have only made marginal progress while suffering heavy losses in armored vehicles, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Tuesday.

The Russian 10th Tank Regiment "has likely lost a large proportion of its tanks while attempting to surround Avdiivka from the south," the ministry said in an intelligence briefing.

"[The] 10th Tank Regiment's losses have likely largely been due to tactically flawed frontal assaults similar to those in other recent failed Russian armored attacks, such as around the town of Vuhledar," the British MoD said.

Russia's 3rd Army Corps, the parent formation of the 10th Tank Regiment, has supposedly been experiencing issues with ill-discipline and poor morale.

"Despite a likely period of training in Belarus, the formation still appears to display limited combat effectiveness," the British MoD claimed.