Ukraine has lost several thousand service members since launching its much-anticipated counteroffensive earlier this month, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Wednesday.
In a statement, the ministry said that Kiev’s forces have suffered some 7,500 killed or wounded, with the tally only including service members on the front line, and not those struck by Russian high-precision missiles and airstrikes deeper into Ukrainian territory.
The estimated losses encompass the period from June 4, when the Russian Defense Ministry reported it had repelled a large-scale Ukrainian offensive along five sections of the front line in Donbass. Since then, Kiev’s troops have attempted to storm Russian positions on numerous occasions, failing to gain any ground, according to Moscow.
The ministry added that in the last 24 hours, Russian troops had repelled two Ukrainian attacks near the settlement of Makarovka in the southern sector of the front. The assaults involved two Ukrainian motorized infantry companies, four tanks and 11 armored vehicles, according to the ministry. It added that each of the tanks had been destroyed, along with seven vehicles.
Another Ukrainian assault in the neighboring settlement of Prechistovka also failed, with Kiev’s troops losing five tanks and five armored vehicles, the ministry said.
According to Russian defense officials, Ukraine’s total losses in the southern part of Donetsk and Zaporozhye Regions over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 800 service members, 20 tanks, 15 armored vehicles, four armored personnel carriers and other military hardware.
In addition, Russian forces conducted massive high-precision, long-range strikes on assembly areas for Ukrainian reserves and foreign mercenaries, as well as on military warehouses storing foreign-supplied equipment, the statement read. “All designated targets have been hit,” it added.
Speaking to war correspondents at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian troops were “taking heavy casualties,” which he claimed were greater than Russia’s by a factor of ten. The Russian leader also said Ukraine had lost up to 30% of the military equipment it had been sent by the West.