Russian Soldier Death Toll Hits 145,000 As 620 More Die In One Day: Ukraine Forces

Russia suffered 620 combat losses in its invasion of Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said, as the total number of Russian casualties in the conflict went above 145,000 just days before it marks its first anniversary.

About 145,060 Russian personnel have been "liquidated" since the war began on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated in its most recent casualty report released Wednesday.

The figure was 144,440 in the military staff's report from the previous day.

Aside from personnel, Russia has also lost 3,334 tanks, 6,569 armored fighting vehicles and 2,345 artillery systems, among other pieces of military equipment, according to the most recent data provided by the Ukrainian military.

Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to continue with the invasion of Ukraine amid reports of his country's losses, he announced in his Tuesday state of the nation address.

The ongoing assault, which is still referred to by the Russian government as a "special military operation," was conducted in order to protect people in Russia's "historical lands," ensure Russian domestic security and deal with the threat posed by Ukraine's "neo-Nazi" regime, according to the Russian head of state.

Several countries, including the United States and member nations of the European Union, described Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine as unprovoked and unjustified.

The current Ukrainian government is not a fascist dictatorship, and neither was it ever associated with the German Nazi Party.

"Putin said very little of actual substance, likely in order to set continued information conditions for a protracted war in Ukraine by not articulating specific temporal goals and framing the war as existential to the Russian domestic population," the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, said in an assessment.

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD) remarked that Putin "continues to present a contradictory narrative of existential struggle, while insisting everything in Russia is fine and going to plan."

"This renders both messages ineffective," the ministry claimed in a Wednesday intelligence briefing.

Russian public support for the war has been "falling significantly," the MoD claimed in December 2022, citing data collected by Russia's own Federal Protective Service.

"With Russia unlikely to achieve major battlefield successes... maintaining even tacit approval of the war amongst the population is likely to be increasingly difficult for the Kremlin," the British department said at the time.

Russian forces are now believed to be under increasing political pressure as the anniversary of the invasion draws near.

A new Russian offensive is currently being carried out in Ukraine's partially occupied eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

However, the operation has only exposed an ineffective Russian command structure and the poor training of recently mobilized Russian soldiers, The Wall Street Journal reported.