MOSCOW, April 17 — Russia on Saturday claimed that Ukraine lost over 23,000 troops since the beginning of the war, reported Anadolu Agency.
Speaking at a daily briefing in Moscow, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov promised to publish in the near future documents which were captured from the Ukrainian military and confirm the figures.
“The Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation has reliable data on the true losses of the Ukrainian army, National Guard, and foreign mercenaries who arrived, which (President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy is afraid to tell the people of Ukraine. As of today, the irretrievable losses amount to 23,367 people.
“We will publish some data from Ukrainian documents about their losses, revealing the place of death, the burial places of the dead, in the near future,” Konashenkov said.
Over the day, 15 objects of Ukraine’s military infrastructure were hit by high-precision air-launched missiles, including six sites of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment and seven strongholds of Ukrainian troops, the spokesman further said.
In addition, more than 320 Ukrainian servicemen were killed and wounded, 23 armoured vehicles and seven vehicles for various purposes were destroyed in the strikes, he said.
“In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 134 aircraft, 460 unmanned aerial vehicles, 246 air defence systems, 2,269 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 252 multiple rocket launchers, 987 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 2,158 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed,” he said.
At least 1,982 civilians have been killed and 2,651 injured in Ukraine since the start of the war, according to United Nations (UN) estimates, with the true figure believed to be much higher.
More than 4.8 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with over 7 million more internally displaced, said the UN refugee agency.
