Russian War Death Toll Hits 121,000 As 720 Eliminated In One Day

The Ukrainian military recently recorded 720 Russian army losses over the course of a single day, pushing Russia's total number of casualties in its invasion of Ukraine beyond 121,000.

Russia has suffered a total of 121,480 combat losses since the conflict began in February last year, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated in its most recent casualty report released Monday.

In a report from the previous day, the military staff said that Russia had 120,760 combat losses.

Total Russian losses also included 3,150 tanks, 6,276 armored fighting vehicles and 2,146 artillery systems, among other pieces of military equipment, the updated data from the Ukrainian military showed.

The Russian Army announced Saturday that it had launched an offensive in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, AFP reported.

Units of Russia's Eastern Military District have since taken up "more advantageous ground and positions," Russia's Defense Ministry said the next day.

The ministry also claimed to have inflicted casualties and destroyed equipment, which included Ukrainian fighting vehicles, howitzers and two United States-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, Reuters reported.

Prior to launching its offensive in Zaporizhzhia, Russia escalated its assaults in the partially occupied province of Donetsk, particularly in the settlements of Bakhmut and Soledar.

Russia said earlier this month that its forces had taken control of Soledar.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are still trying to encircle Bakhmut, according to a CNN report.

Amid the fighting in Ukraine, Russia's forces continue to "endure operational deadlock and heavy casualties," the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov as overall commander of the invasion of Ukraine on Jan. 11.

Gerasimov "has likely started his tour with a drive to improve deployed troops' day-to-day discipline," the British MoD said in a Monday intelligence briefing.

"Since he took command, officers have been attempting to clamp down on non-regulation uniform, travel in civilian vehicles, the use of mobiles phones and non-standard haircuts," the ministry said.

Attempts have also been made "to improve the standard of troops' shaving," according to the British MoD.

Officials in the Donetsk People's Republic, a Russian-backed separatist state, reportedly described the prioritization a "farce" that would "hamper the process of destroying the enemy."

Meanwhile, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group paramilitary organization and a known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized his country's military leadership, claiming that "war is the time of the active and courageous, and not of the clean-shaven," the MoD claimed.