“US Intelligence Estimates 20,000 Russian Troops Lost in Ukraine, Half from Wagner Mercenaries”

According to US intelligence estimates, about half of the fallen Russians are members of the Wagner mercenary group.

National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby speaks at a news conference at the White House. Chris Kleponis/Imago

According to estimates by US intelligence services, more than 20,000 soldiers have been killed on the Russian side in fighting in Ukraine since December alone. About half of them are soldiers from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said the communications director of the National Security Council, John Kirby, in Washington on Monday.

Most of them were Russian convicts sent to war without adequate combat or combat training. The number of soldiers killed and injured on the Russian side during this period is estimated by the intelligence services at more than 100,000, Kirby said. He did not provide information on the number of victims of the Ukrainian armed forces.

A similar number of deaths on the Ukraine side

US Chief of Staff Mark Milley reported in November that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the first eight months of the war. The same probably applies to the Ukrainian side, he said in New York at the time. These numbers cannot be independently verified.

After its invasion more than 14 months ago, Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. The eastern town of Bakhmut has been attacked jointly by the Russian army and the Wagner troops for months. According to their own statements, the attackers now control around 85 percent of the city area.

Kirby said the strategic value of Russia recapturing Bakhmut was “small”. Such a move will not change the course of the war in Russia’s favour. “For Russia, these efforts, especially in Bakhmut, come at a very, very high price,” Kirby said. Russia’s stockpiles of weapons and troops are exhausted, but Ukraine’s defenses in the areas around Bakhmut remain strong.