US says 200,000 soldiers killed or wounded in Ukraine war

tomtidgewellNovember 10, 2022

washington post

Erin Cunningham, Whitney Jacno, Victoria Bisset, Washington Post

Ukrainian soldiers of the 28th brigade say they are advancing toward Kherson, southeast of Posad Pokrovske, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, on November 10, 2022. In this screen grab taken from the video. Photo by video obtained by Reuters /Handout by Reuters

The number of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded since the February 24 invasion is likely to reach 200,000, said General Mark A. Milley, the top U.S. military.

More than 100,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the war, Millie told the Economic Club of New York, according to Reuters.

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Milly also said the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian city of Kherson could take weeks, and the winter months could pose an opportunity for negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. Russia announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing troops from the west bank of the Dnieper. This is a major setback that the Russian commander in charge of the war said would “save the lives of our troops and the combat capabilities of our troops”.

The 100,000 figure is an increase from the Pentagon’s previous estimate of Russian casualties, which was between 60,000 and 70,000 in August. The Washington Post was unable to independently verify the figures, and there are currently no reliable estimates of how many civilians were killed in the fighting.

President Biden said Russia’s evacuation of Kherson would allow Russia and Ukraine to “realign their positions over the winter” and “decide whether they will compromise.” but added that the US would not force Kyiv to negotiate. When asked if this was the right time for negotiations, Millie said there should be a mutual recognition that “in the truest sense of the word” complete military victory cannot be achieved.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signaled that his troops are acting cautiously in Kherson, despite Russia’s announcement to withdraw troops from the provincial capital. “Our emotions must be kept in check – we are always at war,” he said Wednesday. “We do not intend to provide the enemy with all the details of our operations . . . Therefore, we will act with great caution, without emotion or taking unnecessary risks.”

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Russia’s withdrawal from the west bank of the Dnieper is likely to prevent Moscow from “fulfilling its strategic aspirations” for a land bridge to reach the western Ukraine city of Odessa, the UK Defense Ministry said Thursday. Russia may have destroyed several bridges and laid mines to slow the advance of Ukrainian forces, he said, adding that the withdrawal would likely take days. He added that the limited transit points would make Russian forces vulnerable when crossing the Dnieper.

Some Russian hardliners welcomed the decision to withdraw from Kherson. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in a telegram that Russia’s commander in the Ukrainian War, General Sergey Slovikin, said “between senseless sacrifices for loud statements and saving precious lives of soldiers I made the right choice, even if it was difficult,” he said. Evgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, also told Russian outlet RIA Novosti that Slovikhin “acted like a man unafraid of responsibility” by withdrawing with minimal losses.