Russian Soldier Death Toll Surpassed 160,000 After 740 More Die In One Day: UAF

Russia has lost more than 160,000 personnel in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) claimed Tuesday as it announced another 740 Russian casualties.

A total of 160,540 Russian combat losses have been recorded since the war began more than a year ago, according to the latest casualty report released by the UAF's General Staff.

The Ukrainian military claimed in its previous report from Monday that total Russian losses at the time numbered 159,800.

In addition to personnel, Russia has also lost 3,484 tanks, 6,789 armored fighting vehicles and 2,519 artillery systems in Ukraine, among other pieces of military equipment, according to the latest data provided by the UAF.

Russia has focused its assaults on the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province. But its formations may have been unable to "generate operationally significant offensive action" recently due to worsening artillery ammunition shortages over the past weeks, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense said in a Tuesday intelligence briefing.

Artillery, often dubbed the "king of battle" or even the "god of war," has played a vital role in the fight in Ukraine. But both sides of the conflict have faced issues with the supply of munitions and maintenance.

Russian forces were firing about 50,000 artillery rounds each day compared to Ukraine's 6,000 to 7,000, the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told diplomats of the alliance earlier this month.

However, Russian artillery fire has decreased by up to 75% in some areas, according to U.S. officials, CNN reported in January.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has also told his EU counterparts that Ukrainian forces were only firing around a fifth of the rounds that they could due to ammunition shortages.

"If we were not limited by the amount of available artillery shells, we could use the full ammunition set, which is 594,000 shells per month," Reznikov, who asked the EU to give Ukraine 250,000 a month to ease the supply issue, said in a letter obtained by the Financial Times.

"According to our estimates, for the successful execution of battlefield tasks, the minimum need is at least 60[%] of the full ammunition set, or 356,400 shells per month," he added.

The EU must find ways to quickly provide artillery shells to Ukraine, or it could face defeat against Russia, Borrell warned.

"The most important, pressing issue today for the Ukrainian army is to have a continuous flow of ammunition. If we fail on that, really, the result of the war is in danger," the official claimed, according to a report by PBS.