Ukraine Army Eliminated 1,380 Russian Soldiers Over The Weekend; 47 Armored Vehicles Destroyed

Russia lost 1,380 military personnel and 47 armored vehicles in Ukraine over the weekend, data provided by the Ukrainian military showed.

About 660 Russian personnel, 15 tanks and 15 armored fighting vehicles (AFV) were reported lost by the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff Sunday.

The military staff stated in a casualty report from the previous day that Russia lost 720 personnel, six tanks and 11 AFVs.

Russia has suffered a total of 170,550 casualties in Ukraine since it launched its full-scale invasion in late February of last year, according to the latest figures provided by the Ukrainian military.

Losses for Russia within the same period also included 3,595 tanks and 6,947 AFVs, among other pieces of military equipment.

The "extreme attrition" of Russian forces may have been the primary factor that caused Russia's assault on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to stall, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD) suggested in a Saturday intelligence briefing.

Russia has been focused on Bakhmut, located in Ukraine's partially Russian-occupied Donetsk province, since the summer, but it has failed to completely seize the settlement despite losing an estimated 30,000 servicemembers in the fight for the city.

The situation for Russia in Bakhmut was likely made worse by tensions between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Wagner Group paramilitary organization, both of which contribute troops to the sector, according to the British MoD.

"Russia has likely shifted its operational focus towards Avdiivka, south of Bakhmut, and to the Kreminna-Svatove sector in the north, areas where Russia likely only aspires to stabilize its front line," said the ministry, which noted that "Ukraine has also suffered heavy casualties" in Bakhmut's defense.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said during an interview with Ukrainian broadcaster Channel 24 late last year that his country had lost between 10,000 and 13,000 soldiers up to that point in the war.

The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to recruit 400,000 contract soldiers this year to replenish its forces, with the campaign expected to launch this Saturday, Radio Svoboda, the Russian service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio, reported.

Advertisements encouraging people to join the military have already appeared in some regions in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously announced the "partial" mobilization of 300,000 servicemembers last September, the first such initiative in Russia since World War II.

Russian media reported the following month that up to 700,000 citizens had left the country after Putin delivered his decree, a claim that Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied.