NATO: Russia's deaths in Ukraine in a month equal the number of deaths in Afghanistan over 10 years
NATO said on Wednesday that between 7 and 15,000 Russian soldiers were killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, while the desperation of the Ukrainians prevented Moscow from achieving the lightning victory it sought.
For comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan over 10 years.
A senior NATO military official said on Wednesday that the alliance's estimates are based on information from Ukrainian officials, what Russia has released, intentionally or unintentionally, and intelligence gathered from open sources.
The official spoke to the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity under basic rules set by NATO.
And when Russia unleashed its invasion on February 24 in the biggest offensive in Europe since World War II, the Ukrainian government seemed likely to fall quickly.
But with the arrival of the war on its fourth day, it seems that Moscow is mired in a crushing military campaign, the results of which are unknown so far.
A soldier holds a portrait of Captain Andrei Bali, deputy commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, during a farewell ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Bali was killed while fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol.
With their ground forces slowed down or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units, taking advantage of advanced weaponry provided by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces are bombing targets from afar, reverting to the tactics they used to turn cities into ruins in Syria and Chechnya.
As US President Joe Biden left Washington on Wednesday for Europe to meet with key allies about possible new sanctions against Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine, he warned that there was a "real threat of Russia's possible use of chemical weapons."
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Japanese parliament on Wednesday that thousands of his people had been killed, including at least 121 children.
"Among the people are those who cannot even bury their murdered relatives, friends and neighbors properly," he said. "They had to bury them in the yards of destroyed buildings next to the roads," he said.
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