The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) estimated that up to 80,000 people were killed or injured on the Russian side as a result of the war on Ukraine, while a Russian official reported the start of applying his country's laws in a new Ukrainian province.
"I think it can be considered that the Russians may have incurred 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months, and this is a compilation of those killed or wounded in action," Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl told reporters on Monday.
"And this number may be a little less or a little more, but I think it is an approximate number, which is noteworthy, since in Ukraine the Russians did not achieve any of Vladimir Putin's goals at the beginning of the war," he said.
Russia, on the one hand, and Ukraine and its Western allies, on the other, exchange great statistics on the losses of the other side in the (European) war.
He also noted that the Russian forces lost "between 3 and 4 thousand" armored vehicles, and indicated that they may suffer from a lack of precision-guided missiles, including cruise missiles launched from the air and sea, after they launched many of them at Ukrainian targets since the beginning of their offensive.
He added that the Russian army had suffered "huge human losses".
He described the war as "the most intense traditional conflict in Europe" since World War II.
It is noteworthy that the latest data announced by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army on June 10 indicated that about 32,50 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine on February 24.
This data cannot be independently verified, and Russia has not commented on this data.
New American support
In a related context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the American people and President Joe Biden for what he called "another unprecedented security assistance package" for supporting his country in defending itself against the "Russian invasion," Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The United States had announced earlier the allocation of $ 4.5 billion in additional direct budget support, and another billion dollars in military aid, the largest withdrawal from the current stockpile since the start of the war, according to what the Pentagon announced.
"Every dollar of this aid is a step towards defeating the aggressor," Zelensky said in a tweet on Twitter.
On Monday, the US Department of Defense announced sending a new $1 billion military aid package to Ukraine, which specifically includes additional missiles for the US HIMARS high-precision artillery systems.
The ministry said - in a statement - that the new aid package also includes more short and medium-range surface-to-air defense missiles of the "Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System" (NASAMS), and more Javelin anti-tank missiles, in addition to other ammunition.
Kyiv will also receive 75,000 155-millimeter shells, intended for Western artillery systems that have been equipped with Ukrainian forces, and about 50 armored medical vehicles.
Zaporizhia Province
In another context, the representative of the regional administration in the Zaporizhia region, Vladimir Rogov, announced the start of the application of Russian laws in the southern Ukrainian province, noting that what he described as a "path of reunification with Russia" has been drawn up.
"The local police are guided by the Russian criminal and administrative laws," Rogov said in a statement to the Russian "Novosti" agency.
In another statement to the agency, he indicated that "the lands of Zaporozhye left Ukraine forever and there will be no going back," as he put it.
It is located in the Zaporozhye region, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, one of the 10 largest nuclear power plants in the world, and contains 6 nuclear reactors.
Russian forces captured the nuclear plant in the first phase of the war in early March, but Ukrainian technicians still operate it.
In recent days, Moscow and Kiev accused each other of launching strikes near the station, which is located in an area controlled by Russian forces.
Russia has seized swathes of Ukrainian territory during its ongoing offensive since last February, and Kyiv accuses Moscow of seeking to hold referendums in a number of cities with the aim of annexing them, which it strongly rejects.