The commander of Russia's Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Tuesday described the Ukrainian toll announced by Moscow after confirming that it had repelled two major attacks in two days as "fantasies."
Prigozhin, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Telegram: "It's just fantasies."
Russia's Defense Ministry said it had repelled two large-scale Ukrainian attacks on Sunday and Monday in the southern Donbas region, killing "more than 1500,28 Ukrainian soldiers" and destroying "<> tanks".
The Ukrainian government, which announced gains near the eastern city of Pakhmut, did not provide any toll.
Prigozhin quipped Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konatchenkov: "Killing 1500,<> soldiers in one day is a massacre. "If we add up all the figures given by Konatchenkov, we will have destroyed the entire planet five times."
Prigozhin regularly makes scathing remarks criticizing Russia's General Staff, which he accuses in particular of not providing enough ammunition to Wagner fighters who were on the front lines in the battles around Pakhmut.