Russian Defense Minister Announces Ukraine's Losses in the Conflict
The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 8,000 soldiers and a significant amount of military equipment in November, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on December 6.
Mr. Shoigu said that in November, Kiev lost more than 8,300 soldiers, 5 combat aircraft, 10 helicopters, 149 tanks and more than 300 armored vehicles. He said that the Russian army had caused significant losses to Ukraine's combat capabilities by using long-range weapons to conduct large-scale attacks on command centers and military-industrial complexes.
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Russian troops fire artillery at targets in Lugansk. Photo: RIA Novosti |
In late September, Mr. Shoigu said that the Ukrainian army had lost more than 61,000 soldiers since Russia launched its military operation in late February. The Russian defense minister also announced that Russia's losses were 10 times less, about 6,000 soldiers.
While Kiev has refused to release official casualty figures, it has disputed the figures released by the Russian Defense Ministry. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in September that the Ukrainian military was losing about 50 men a day, but said that was still “five times less” than Russian casualties.
Last week, in a speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asserted that more than 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed or wounded in the conflict. However, the video of the speech was later deleted and re-uploaded without the casualty estimate after the statement angered Kiev, which said it was "sensitive information" that should only be disclosed by senior Ukrainian officials./.
