Ukraine: US intelligence officials have stated that over 20,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives and over 80,000 have been wounded in just five months of fighting in Ukraine, which is a significant increase in the already high death toll for Moscow.

The majority of these deaths occurred during trench warfare in the small eastern city of Bakhmut. The US revealed this estimate on May 1, and a White House national security council spokesperson named John Kirby stated that about half of the soldiers were fighting with the Wagner mercenary group rather than the Russian military.

“Russia’s attempt at an offensive in the Donbas, largely through Bakhmut, has failed. Russia has been unable to seize any really strategically significant territory,” Mr. Kirby stated.

“The losses are an acceleration in Russian casualties even from the bloody first days of the war and overshadow some of the bloodiest allied battles of the Second World War,” Mr. Kirby added. That includes the Guadalcanal campaign, the first major Allied offensive against Japan, which also lasted five months.

He also mentioned that they were being sent into battle without proper training or leadership. The group recruits heavily in prisons, offering amnesty to convicts who survive six months on the frontlines. The new figures demonstrate the high-risk nature of this offer.

Ukrainian forces are still holding out in a corner of Bakhmut. Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces, recently commented that “the situation is quite difficult”, but Ukrainian forces are still counterattacking against Russians.

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