In early March, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that 498 Russian soldiers were killed during the fighting and 1,500 wounded, a large number after only 10 days of battles.
But critics inside and outside Russia say the government’s official figures should be treated with skepticism.
In contrast, US and Ukrainian officials have since claimed that Russia has incurred 10, 20 or even 30 times the number of casualties declared by Moscow, noting that Russian losses could be close to its victims in Chechnya or Afghanistan.
Amid a media vacuum in Russia, rumors spread of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people killed in the war over the following weeks.
A Russian military expert told the newspaper "Guardian" Britain, asking not to be named: "It’s almost a state secret. We don’t know exactly how many soldiers died. At this moment it is better to discuss other questions".
Russian news outlets that continued to operate inside the country largely stopped reporting the battle death toll, as censorship blocked any discussion describing the conflict as "war" or "Invade"but rather "military operation".
But on Monday, she threw a newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" The Russian, which frequently publishes pro-Kremlin news reports, is a bombshell in the stagnant waters of the media, and said that "According to the data of the Ministry of Defense, 9,861 Russian soldiers were killed during the fighting, and 16,153 . were wounded".
But only minutes later, the news, which was not reported by any Russian news agencies, disappeared, while it was not clear why this happened "Komsomolskaya Pravda" She is the only one on this information that no Russian officials or observers have commented on for fear of being accused of spreading false news.
The newspaper later claimed that its website had been hacked "forged"and surely "Incorrect information removed immediately".
Soon, clips of the deleted report spread on social media, with commentators referring to it as evidence that Kremlin It suffers heavy losses in the month-long war.
In a speech last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that "The West is trying to speculate on military casualties and the social and economic consequences of sanctions with the aim of fomenting a civil rebellion in Russia".
And on Monday, the Russian version of . was published "BBC" A report in which it said it confirmed the killing of 557 Russian soldiers.
On the other hand, Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty), which is funded by the US government and includes dozens of journalists in the region, reported that Belarusian hospitals were filled with Russian war dead weeks after its outbreak.
The radio quoted an employee of the Hummel Regional Clinical Hospital, as saying that more than 2,500 bodies of Russian soldiers had been transferred from Belarus to Russia. Russia As of March 13, she could not independently confirm this number.
On the other hand, this week, US intelligence officials gave an estimate "conservative" More than 7,000 Russian soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine, a number that exceeds the official death toll among Russian soldiers during the two years of the First Chechen War.
On Monday evening, Ukrainian officials put the Russian death toll at more than 15,000, a figure close to official estimates of Soviet soldiers killed in the decade-long war in Afghanistan that reduced the prestige of the Soviet army abroad, which withdrew just months before the fall of the Soviet Union.
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It has been 3 weeks since Russia updated its official death toll for its attack on Ukraineleaving the door open for this in the early stages of the war, which does not seem close to its end.
In early March, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that 498 Russian soldiers were killed during the fighting and 1,500 wounded, a large number after only 10 days of battles.
But critics inside and outside Russia say the government’s official figures should be treated with skepticism.
In contrast, US and Ukrainian officials have since claimed that Russia has incurred 10, 20 or even 30 times the number of casualties declared by Moscow, noting that Russian losses could be close to its victims in Chechnya or Afghanistan.
Amid a media vacuum in Russia, rumors spread of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people killed in the war over the following weeks.
“It’s almost a state secret. We don’t know exactly how many soldiers have died. At this moment it is better to discuss other questions,” a Russian military expert told the British newspaper, The Guardian, on condition of anonymity.
Russian news outlets that continued to operate inside the country largely stopped reporting the combat death toll, as censorship blocked any discussion of the conflict describing the conflict as a “war” or “invasion”, but rather as a “military operation”.
But on Monday, Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, which frequently publishes pro-Kremlin news reports, threw a grenade into the media’s stagnant waters. “According to Defense Ministry data, 9,861 Russian soldiers were killed during the fighting, and 16,153 were wounded,” it said.
But only minutes later, the news, which was not reported by any Russian news agencies, disappeared, while it was not clear why “Komsomolskaya Pravda” alone obtained this information, which no Russian officials or observers commented on for fear of being accused of spreading false news.
The newspaper later claimed that its website had been hacked, and said the news was “fake”, and that “misinformation was immediately deleted.”
Soon, clips of the deleted report spread on social media, with commentators referring to it as evidence that Kremlin It suffers heavy losses in the month-long war.
In a speech last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “the West is trying to predict the military casualties and the social and economic consequences of sanctions with the aim of fomenting a civil rebellion in Russia.”
And on Monday, the Russian version of the BBC published a report in which it said it had confirmed the killing of 557 Russian soldiers.
On the other hand, Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty), which is funded by the US government and includes dozens of journalists in the region, reported that Belarusian hospitals were filled with Russian war dead weeks after its outbreak.
The radio quoted an employee of the Hummel Regional Clinical Hospital, as saying that more than 2,500 bodies of Russian soldiers had been transferred from Belarus to Russia. Russia As of March 13, she could not independently confirm this number.
On the other hand, US intelligence officials this week gave a “conservative” estimate that more than 7,000 Russian soldiers were killed in the fighting in Ukraine, a number that exceeds the official death toll among Russian soldiers during the two years of the first Chechen war.
On Monday evening, Ukrainian officials put the Russian death toll at more than 15,000, a figure close to official estimates of Soviet soldiers killed in the decade-long war in Afghanistan that reduced the prestige of the Soviet army abroad, which withdrew just months before the fall of the Soviet Union.